
Class T£_*lli 
Book., * WIS ff 



Copyright^ .. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



THE HISPANIC SERIES 

.«■»"■' 

UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF 

John D. Fitz-Gerald, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF SPANISH, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
MEMBER OF THE HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA 
CORRESPONDIENTE DE LAS REALES ACADEMIAS 
ESPANOLA, DE LA HISTORIA DE MADRID, Y DE 
BUENAS LETRAS DE BARCELONA 



SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 
A HANDBOOK OF METHODS 



SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

A HANDBOOK OF METHODS 

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 
THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 



BY 
LAWRENCE A. WILKINS, A.M. 

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH 

DeWITT CLINTON HIGH SCHOOL, NEW YORK CITY 

IN CHARGE OF MODERN LANGUAGES IN 

THE NEW YORK CITY HIGH SCHOOLS 

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISPANIC SOCIETY 

OF AMERICA 



ov 7r6W dXXa irokv 



BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO. 

CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON 

I9l8 



0^ 



"V 



Copyright, 1918, 
BY BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO. 



M 13 1918 



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©CI.A499337 



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Co 

MY WIFE 



PREFACE 

While this volume bears the title Spanish in the High 
Schools, With Special Reference to the Junior High Schools, 
I believe that most of the problems and the methods here 
delineated for the teaching of Spanish apply equally well 
to the Junior High School, to the present four-year High 
School, and to the new Senior High School. 

To general bibliography on the teaching of modern lan- 
guages little reference has been made, for it is presumed 
that the reader is fairly well acquainted with the standard 
books on the subject. Of bibliography concerned espe- 
cially with methods of teaching Spanish none has been 
given, as none exists. 

To the friends who have contributed in various ways to 
the preparation of this book I here express my sincere 
thanks. To Professor John D. Fitz-Gerald I am indebted 
for assistance much exceeding that usually rendered by 
a general editor to an author. Without his previous 
knowledge, I here record my keen appreciation of his 
suggestions and of his aid in obtaining several items of 
importance which I have used. 

Lawrence A. Wilkins. 

New York City, 
April, 1918. 

vii 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Dedication v 

Preface vii 

CHAPTER I 
Introduction i 

CHAPTER II 
Why Teach Spanish ? 7 

CHAPTER III 
The Present Progress of Spanish in the Schools . 35 

CHAPTER IV 

The Preparation of the Secondary School Teacher 

of Spanish 47 

CHAPTER V 
The Aim in Teaching Spanish . . . . . 64 

CHAPTER VI 
The Method to be Used in Teaching Spanish . . 66 

CHAPTER VII 

The Course of Study in Spanish for the Junior High 

School and Methods of Teaching It . . > 73 

ix 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VIII p AGE 

The Relation of This Course of Study to That of the 
Four-year High School and to That of the New 
Senior High School 96 

CHAPTER IX 
The Organization of Classes 113 

CHAPTER X 
The Recitation .129 

CHAPTER XI 
Methods and Devices 134 

CHAPTER XII 
A Miscellany of Suggestions 157 

CHAPTER XIII 
Club Work in the Department of Spanish . . 190 

CHAPTER XIV 
The Modern Language Teacher of " Superior Merit" 198 

CHAPTER XV 

Handicaps to the Teaching of Spanish in the United 

States . . 206 

CHAPTER XVI 
Spanish as a Foundation for Latin .... 225 

CHAPTER XVII 

Bibliography and Other Aids for the Teacher of 

Spanish . . . 240 



SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

A HANDBOOK OF METHODS 

With Special Reference to the Junior High Schools 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

In the year 191 3 there began in the schools of the 
United States a remarkable increase of interest in 
the study of Spanish. That interest has been sus- 
tained and, in fact, heightened many-fold since then 
in institutions ranging from the elementary school 
to graduate courses in the university. One of the 
largest high schools of New York City l had in 
February, 1914, 198 students in all the classes in 
Spanish ; in September, 1914, 377 ; in February, 191 5, 
640; in September, 191 5, 774; in February, 1916, 
994; in September, 1916, 1240; in February, 
1917, 1528; and in September, 1917, 1604. The 
steadily mounting number of students electing Span- 
ish in this school has had its parallel in other schools 
throughout the land. Spanish has come to stay in the 

1 DeWitt Clinton High School, which had a total enrollment 
October 31, 1917, of 5228 students. 



2 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

curricula of our schools. The desire to study that lan- 
guage is no mere passing whim, but is founded on the 
soundest educational basis, as will be shown, it is 
hoped, in the later discussions of this book. 

Almost exactly coincident with this renascence of 
Spanish has been the movement to reorganize our 
school system so as to provide for the Junior High 
School, known also as the Intermediate School. In 
general, as is well known, this reorganization provides 
for six years of the elementary school course, three 
years of Junior High School work (seventh, eighth, 
and ninth years), and, finally, three years in the 
Senior High School. There are, of course, many 
variations of this scheme advocated and practiced, 
but in any case, the claims made for the Junior High 
School are, " first, that it provides better for indi- 
vidual differences ; second, that it makes easier the 
transition to the high school ; third, that it decreases 
the number of pupils eliminated from the school 
system ; and, fourth, that it furnishes an opportunity 
for various reforms in instruction." This statement 
is made by Professor Thomas H. Briggs of Teachers 
College, Columbia University. 1 

The validity of any one of these claims (all of 
which have been made valid in the opinion of those 
who have had most experience with this new type 
of school) would justify this innovation in our edu- 
cational system. In the fourth claim made above, 
the teachers of modern languages are particularly 

1 In Chapter VI of the Report of the Commissioner of Educa- 
tion for the Year ending June 30, 1914 ; Washington, Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 1915* 



INTRODUCTION 3 

interested, for they see here an opportunity for 
one of the "various reforms in instruction" which 
they have long desired, namely, an earlier beginning, 
than has been possible heretofore, of modern foreign 
language work, under proper conditions. The intro- 
duction of instruction in foreign languages in the 
seventh, eighth, and ninth years of the school work 
is justified in this manner : A foreign language is 
chiefly a habit-forming subject rather than a fact 
subject. The plastic mind of the child of twelve, 
thirteen and fourteen years of age is most easily and 
lastingly molded and shaped in the thought habits 
of the foreign tongue. It seems to follow, then, that 
if a foreign language is begun in the Junior High 
School under properly adapted instruction, that 
language may much more certainly be made a part 
of the pupil's mental habit and mental life. And 
Spanish teachers are most especially interested in 
this opportunity for reforms in instruction because 
they regard their claim that Spanish be granted in 
all types of schools a place equal to that now occupied 
by French or German as a reform movement and 
therefore most fittingly connected with the new 
Junior High School. 

So then, if the acquisition of Spanish, so much 
sought by North Americans young and old, is to 
be accomplished in the most effective and successful 
manner, its study should be begun in the Junior 
High School. Thus are seen to be most happily 
linked together two of the most noteworthy and most 
vital movements within recent years in the educa- 
tional circles of this country — the study of Spanish 



4 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

and the Junior High School. Therefore, in discussing 
Spanish in the High Schools it has seemed to the 
writer both suitable and necessary to approach this 
subject from the standpoint of the Junior High 
School, the school that probably offers most oppor- 
tunities for putting into practice new and progressive 
ideas. Hence, the sub-title With Special Reference 
to the Junior High School. And with the desire to 
make the discussion as practical and helpful as pos- 
sible, the author has thought it pertinent to make it 
bear directly upon methods of teaching Spanish. 
Hence, the second title, A Handbook of Methods. 

But the question may at once arise, Why present 
a book devoted especially to methods of teaching 
Spanish ? Some might consider it at least partially 
justifiable to answer, Because no one has before 
written upon this particular theme, which daily is 
growing in importance. And previous paragraphs 
are surely suggestive of other reasons that might be 
advanced for this venture. But more specifically 
the answer to the query is : The problems of the 
Spanish teacher differ sufficiently from those of the 
teacher of French and German to warrant a con- 
sideration apart and to make of probable value an 
attempt to delineate and solve them. To elucidate : 
The recent very marked increase in the number of 
people demanding opportunities to study Spanish 
equal to those offered for the study of French and 
German has been accompanied by a lack of trained 
teachers of Spanish. The result has been lack of 
orientation, direction, and organization. A hit-or- 
miss state of affairs in Spanish instruction has pre- 



INTRODUCTION 5 

vailed in high school and even in college work. This 
condition has been aggravated until recently by a 
scarcity of proper textbooks, especially for beginners. 
This scarcity is, however, being rapidly remedied by 
the various publishers of modern language books. 

The teacher of Spanish, fortunately or unfortu- 
nately, has no traditions to follow, so new is his field 
of .labor. Almost no courses in material for, and 
methods of, teaching Spanish are offered by the col- 
leges and universities of this country or any other. 1 
On the other hand, those who teach French or 
German have for their work numerous aids provided 
for them. Courses in methods of teaching those 
languages are offered in many institutions. Like- 
wise, opportunities for teaching French or German 
are given in the practice schools connected with the 
best normal schools and teachers' colleges. Books 
on methods, modern language associations with their 
journals and bulletins, re alia and illustrative material, 
charts and maps — all devoted to French and Ger- 
man — are available in plenteous supply and va- 
riety for apprentice teacher and expert instructor. 

Aside from these more general considerations it 
should be pointed out that in the Spanish language 
itself inhere difficulties and peculiarities that justify 
a separate survey and exposition of methods of pre- 

1 The author knows of only the following courses in methods 
in Spanish: Those given by Professor Charles Philip Wagner, 
University of Michigan, Professor W. S. Hendrix, University 
of Texas, and Mr. Max A. Luria, Hunter Evening College, 
New York City. The authorities of Teachers College, Columbia 
University, are contemplating the establishment of a course 
in methods in Spanish. See Addenda. 



6 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

senting the language to the learner. One need but 
mention, for instance, the remarkably frequent and 
unusually intricate idioms or locutions that occur 
in Spanish or the great wealth of the Spanish 
vocabulary. 

To help shake off the apologetic r61e too long 
played by Spanish teachers, to take stock of those 
compelling reasons that lie at the basis of the claim 
for an equal place for Spanish, to sum up the present 
situation in regard to Spanish, to define the aim of 
the teacher of that language, to crystallize and ex- 
press a few of the ideas Spanish teachers long have 
held but seldom have expressed in print, to suggest 
to the enthusiasm of the Spanish teacher (the 
specialist in that language is uniformly enthusiastic) 
modes of effectiveness, to encourage him in a field 
of endeavor where he has been able to find few 
rallying-points or few finger-boards pointing the 
way, to give him practical help as well as encourage- 
ment, is the fond and perhaps too ambitious hope 
of the writer. Probably the chief warrant the 
author has for undertaking, as best he may, to do 
these things is his own great enthusiasm for things 
Spanish and his experience of the past twelve years 
as a teacher solely of Spanish in high school and in 
university extension courses and as a director of 
modern language instruction. Actual observation 
of the teaching of Spanish in a few Intermediate 
Schools has been of help. 



CHAPTER II 

WHY TEACH SPANISH ?* 

A knowledge of Spanish has for the North Amer- 
ican youth three distinct values — the commercial 
(of which we hear so much), the cultural (of which 
we hear so little), and, most important of all, the 
politico-social or international value. 

Commercial Value of Spanish. No one would be 
inclined, probably, to dispute the usefulness of 
Spanish to those engaged in commerce in the United 
States, especially to residents of cities in which 
manufacturing or exporting predominates. But the 
belief that Spanish should be taught only for practical 
purposes represents a point of view that is either 
uninformed or lacking in perspective. But it doubt- 
less is pertinent to sum up here what can be said in 
favor of Spanish for practical and commercial 
purposes. From 1900 to 191 3 the total of all South 
American imports for all the world increased from 
318 million dollars to 1042 millions. This increase 
was at the rate of 227 per cent as compared with an 
increase of 107 per cent in our own imports and of 
100 per cent in the trade of the whole world in the 
same period. And in that time the population of 

1 Adapted from the author's address on " The Case for 
Spanish " before the New Jersey Modern Language Associa- 
tion, May 5, 1917. 

7 



8 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Spanish America grew from 38 millions to nearly 60 
millions, an increase of about 58 per cent as compared 
with an increase of 28 per cent in the United States. 
The imports of South America in the most recent 
normal year, 1913, averaged $18.68 per capita, 
comparing with $17.94 P er capita importations into 
the United States. The average income of the 
population of Argentina is well up to Sir George 
Paish's estimate of the average income of the citizens 
of our own land. It is worthy of note that there are 
in Argentina alone three banking institutions with 
larger paid-up capitals than those of any bank of the 
United States and that Argentina has a gold coin 
reserve of $53 per capita as compared with about 
$23 in the United States. 1 These facts speak elo- 
quently of the purchasing power of Hispanic 2 
America before the Great War began. 

Of the possibilities in the way of the future 
development of South American countries the 
following items are suggestive 3 : Peru is the size of 
Spain, France, Italy, and Germany combined. 
Sixty Belgiums could be contained in Bolivia and 
yet the latter has only one-third of Belgium's 
population. Chile is as long as from New York to 
San Francisco and as narrow as Lake Erie. All of 
the United States except Alaska could be contained 
in Brazil and there would still be a remainder of 

x The Americas, a monthly magazine published by the 
National City Bank, from the numbers of which for June and 
September, 1916, the above facts are taken. 

2 Hispanic is used to include Portuguese and Spanish. 

3 Adapted from " The Geography Class " by Dan Ward, in 
the World Outlook for February, 1915. 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 9 

200,000 square miles of Brazilian territory. There 
is more unexplored country in Brazil than in all 
the rest of the world put together. Argentina has 
progressed more rapidly in the past ten years than 
Iowa or Illinois in the last fifty years. Buenos Aires 
(with 1,560,163 people), at the present rate of in- 
crease, will pass Chicago in 1930 and be the second 
city in size in the Western Hemisphere. On the bor- 
der land between Brazil and Argentina are the falls of 
Iguassu, higher and wider than Niagara. Four-fifths 
of the world's coffee comes from Brazil, of which 
country the capital, Rio de Janeiro, has a population 
of 1,128,637 people. Two other Hispanic-American 
cities have approached the half-million mark : Mexico 
City (with 471,066) and Sao Paulo (with 400,000); 
whereas six others have reached or passed the quarter- 
million mark : Santiago de Chile (378,000), Montevi- 
deo (377,994), Havana (319,884), Bahia (300,000), 
Recife, Brazil (250,000), and Rosario, Argentina 
(250,000). Some of these cities are very beautiful. 
Of the necessity of a knowledge of Spanish for 
practical purposes among our own countrymen, the 
Pan American Union of Washington has this to say : 

The merchant and the manufacturer will each need it 
to thoroughly understand the wants of his customers and 
cater to them accordingly; the mechanical, civil or 
electrical engineer will need it to facilitate and expedite 
his work by his ability to come in closer contact with the 
men under him ; the teacher will need it in order to take 
up work in Spanish-American schools where American 
educational methods are admired and copied ; the trained 
agriculturist will need it in order to meet the great want 



IO SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

for scientific farming, so eagerly fostered by many South 
American governments ; the lawyer will need it to familiar- 
ize himself with Spanish-American legislation and social 
conditions, which will give him an invaluable advantage 
over his less fortunate colleague. 

But what has happened in Spanish America since 
the war has been in progress ? Despite the fact that 
the war caused an almost complete paralysis of 
foreign trade in South America for nearly a year, our 
business with that continent alone, not including the 
West Indies or Central America, showed at the end of 
June, 1 91 7, imports from there in the sum of 542 
millions as compared with 391 millions in June, 
1916, 261 millions in June, 1915, 222 millions in June, 

1914, and 217 millions in June, 191 3. Exports 
from the United States to South America totaled 
259 millions for the year ending June, 1917, as 
compared with 180 millions in 1916, 99 millions in 

191 5, 124 millions in 1914, and 146 millions in 1913. 
From June, 1914, to June, 1917, the gain in imports 
from South America into this country is rated at 144 
per cent while the exports from the United States to 
South America in the same period show a gain of 109 
per cent. Imports from the world into the United 
States in the same time increased 106 per cent and 
exports to the world increased 191 per cent. From 
June, 191 5, to June, 1917, imports from Central 
America increased from 21 to 35 millions, or 67 
per cent, and exports rose from 35 to 52 millions, or 
49 per cent. From June, 191 5, to June, 1917, 
imports from the West Indies increased from 211 to 
291 millions, or 38 per cent, and exports from 100 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? II 

to 230 millions, or 130 per cent. 1 And yet there are 
those who say that we have done nothing to " capture 
the commerce " of South America except talk about 
doing it. As a nation almost totally unversed in 
the ways of foreign commerce, we have not done 
badly. It is true that the nations that have been 
our competitors for the trade of Hispanic America 
have been in some cases totally removed from the 
field and in others badly hampered by the war. 
But it is also true that our trade with Spanish 
America has been badly hampered by the lack of 
boats of cargo. And as an indication of the serious- 
ness with which we are attacking the work of securing 
at least a fair portion of the trade of the other 
Americas, one is compelled to note, for instance, 
that the National City Bank of New York now has 
nine branches in Hispanic America at these places : 
Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Sao Paulo, Santos, Monte- 
video, Buenos Aires, Valparaiso, Havana, and San- 
tiago de Cuba. The International Banking Cor- 
poration has six offices in Caribbean cities. 

Mention must also be made of the superb work 
accomplished by the recent international conferences 
such as the Pan American Financial Conference of 
191 5, the Pan American Scientific Conference of 
1915-1916, and the meetings of the International 
High Commission, an organization whose great work 
has just begun. It is more than evident that there 
is in operation a gradual tightening of the commer- 
cial and economic bonds between the Spanish- and 

1 Taken from the reports of the Bureau of Commerce for 
June, 1917. 



12 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Portuguese-speaking lands of the New World and 
our own land. 

One of the visible results of this closer approxima- 
tion has been that in the city of New York, the chief 
center of commerce between this country and His- 
panic America, business people, men, women, boys 
and girls, have by hundreds set about it in some way 
to study Spanish. It has been the fashion of the 
hour for three or four years to have " a try at 
Spanish". A longing to " get knowledge quick " has 
resulted in plenty of " get rich quick" schemes among 
some of the so-called professors of Spanish, who, for 
an insignificant sum profess (therefore are they 
professors) to teach the Spanish language in thirty 
lessons ! And yet the victims flock to the " classes" 
without ceasing. There must indeed be something 
very virile in the desire to study Spanish when that 
desire has thus persisted and increased despite this 
continued preying upon it. 

In the duly accredited educational institutions 
of New York City Spanish has taken an increasingly 
prominent place. The largest registration in the 
courses in the various languages offered in Extension 
Teaching in Columbia University is in Spanish. 1 
The largest and most faithfully attended classes in 
languages in the public evening High Schools — 
where chiefly business people attend — are the 
Spanish classes. And these people in afternoon and 
evening courses are not spending dollars and weary 
hours after a busy day simply as a way of passing 

1 In the Spring Session, 1917, 314 were enrolled in Spanish 
courses, 277 in French, and 165 in German. 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 13 

their time. Their business demands of them a 
knowledge of Spanish and they must get it as best 
they may, despite long hours of work in the office or 
factory. In the public commercial high schools of 
New York City Spanish so far outstrips the other 
languages in numbers of students that those other 
languages have practically no significance in those 
schools. This growth has been going on in too 
steadily increasing proportions to be explained on 
the ground that it is merely the fancy of the moment. 
It is true that the war has operated in obvious ways 
to stimulate the study of Spanish. And there are 
those who believe that when the war is over Spanish 
will drop out of our schools and German will be more 
than ever the predominating modern foreign language 
studied. This belief is parallel to that one which 
holds that after the war we shall drop out of the 
competition for the South American trade and that 
Germany will again hold first place in the trade of 
many of the Hispanic republics. There may be a 
slight cessation in the present rush to Spanish, but 
who knows ? May not the new relations already 
pretty firmly established with South America — 
relations of commerce, general amity and unity of 
interest in world politics — may not these relations 
work rather to increase the interest of North Amer- 
icans in South America and of South Americans in 
North America? A prophecy expressing the latter 
point of view surely is as valuable as its opposite. 
There are many, too, who believe that never again 
will German have the strong hold in the program of 
study in our institutions that it has enjoyed in the past. 



14 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

But the present writer does not believe that the 
popularity of Spanish depends now or in the future 
upon the popularity or unpopularity of German. 

One may say, then, with reason, that the study of 
Spanish for commercial and practical purposes is 
most solidly based upon business needs. A knowl- 
edge of Spanish is coming to be as necessary to the 
North American exporter and importer, banker and 
merchant, as a knowledge of jobbing or of stocks 
and bonds. And whether it suits us or not, we must 
confess that this is, after all, a very sound foundation 
for the study of a foreign tongue. Like " dollar 
diplomacy " it has its eminent usefulness and its laud- 
able side. But the study of Spanish, to be of greatest 
value, ought to mean more than merely a way of 
increasing one's business efficiency or earning 
power. Fortunately, the acquisition of Spanish 
most happily combines with this practical value a 
great cultural value and probably in such proportion 
and to such extent as does no other foreign language 
that a North American may seek to master. And 
amid all this marked and growing inclination to 
study Spanish for business purposes, it is worth 
while to remark, de paso> that Spanish is not in itself 
a language adapted to business purposes. It has 
few of the modern technical terms and ready business 
expressions that English has so readily available. 
This sonorous " language of men", as it has been 
called, seems in its structure and genius almost to 
scorn the vulgar things of trade. It has not the 
paraphernalia or equipment devised for up-to-date 
business methods. 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 1 5 

Cultural Value of Spanish. The cultural value of 
a study of Spanish has sometimes been called in 
question — always by those ill qualified to pass 
judgment in the matter. Using the word cultural 
also to include disciplinary (though the theory of 
the relative disciplinary value of different studies is 
generally now discarded), the cultural value of a 
knowledge of Spanish is not inferior to that offered 
by mastery of any other modern foreign language. 
Why is this so ? 

First, the study of Spanish effects the same lin- 
guistic training as does the study, say, of French. It 
is not an "easy" language, contrary to the somewhat 
commonly held opinion. (No language can really 
be said to be easy of acquisition.) This opinion is 
based on two facts : Spanish has usually been studied 
in colleges as a second, third, or even fourth foreign 
language, when previous experience in language 
study makes its acquisition much easier than when it 
is studied as the first foreign language ; second, one 
who examines only the " surface indications ' of 
the Spanish language is apt to be deceived by the 
apparent simplicity of its phenomena. It is true 
that for the beginner it is more easily pronounced 
than French, but it is, when spoken by a native 
Spaniard, an elusive language to catch with the ear 
— due to the slighting of consonants so characteristic 
of Spanish speech. As one's study progresses he 
finds an intricacy of idiomatic construction to an 
extent in excess of that found in French, a great 
wealth of vocabulary, peculiarities of sentence 
structure, neo-Latin in nature, a remarkably 



16 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

developed inclination to the subjunctive far exceed- 
ing that in French, numerous elliptical expressions, 
qualifying suffixes of nouns and adjectives, and great 
irregularity of verb forms. All these characteristics 
work together to make Spanish worthy of the best 
mental effort. The study of Spanish will develop 
as many brain loops as will the study of Russian or 
Sanskrit. It all depends upon the teaching and upon 
the effort put forth by the student. 

Second, in the Spanish language is expressed one 
of the great literatures of the world. Spanish 
literature has most profoundly affected that of 
England and that of France. In England Ben 
Jonson, Thomas Middleton, Cyril Tourneur, 
Nathaniel Field, and many others of Elizabethan 
days drew upon Spanish authors of their time for 
material and inspiration. 1 And in France from 
Rotrou to Victor Hugo and Cyrano de Bergerac, the 
indebtedness has been great on the part of French- 
men to Spanish men of letters. The great Corneille 
and the greater Moliere hesitated not to borrow, and 
freely, too, from Lope, Alarcon, and Guillen de 
Castro. 

Who produced the greatest tale the world has ever 
read? Was it not that one-armed soldier, hero of 
the battle of Lepanto, Miguel de Cervantes Saave- 
dra ? That creature of his brain, that sad-eyed 
Knight of La Mancha, stands forth as vividly in the 

1 See Fitzmaurice-Kelly's Relations of the English and 
Spanish Literatures. Also Professor F. E. Schelling's chapter 
on this subject in his Elizabethan Drama and in Vol. VIII of 
the Cambridge History of English Literature. 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 17 

pages of fiction as does Hamlet amid all the dramas 
of all the world. Each character in its own way, 
though in different guise and different speech, pictures 
to us the sum total of the comedy and the tragedy 
of man here below. 

Who, so far in the history of the human race, has 
been the most prolific writer of clever dramas? A 
Spaniard, Lope Felix de Vega Carpio, " the prodigy 
of nature", as he was called, who endowed his country 
once for all with a national drama. It is well known 
that he turned out about 1800 dramas, besides 400 
autos sacramentales and many entremeses, producing 
more work than all the other writers combined of the 
Elizabethan period, and to this marvelous facility 
was joined wonderful perfection of construction and 
unsurpassed ingenuity of plot. Knowing Spanish, 
one could have at his disposal different plays by this 
man to read in leisure hours for many years to come, 
as 470 of Lope's plays have survived. The Spanish 
drama is rightly called one of the three great national 
dramas of the world. The modern drama of Spain 
is well represented by Tamayo y Baus and Echegaray 
(winner of half of the Nobel prize for literature in 
1904) and at the present day by Jacinto Benavente, 
who is fondly called, and with reason, the modern 
Shakespeare. Some of Benavente's works are al- 
ready available in English, and they are hailed every- 
where as the product of a mighty genius. 

What did Spain produce of epic poetry ? The 
Poema del Cid, one of the three great epics of the 
world. In unity of plan, force, simplicity, and high 
idealization of its hero, this old poem is second to 



1 8 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

none. This first great monument of the literature of 
Spain gives just cause for the highest esteem for the 
early literatos of the Peninsula. And four hundred 
years later Alonso de Ercilla y Zufiiga proved him- 
self a worthy continuator of Spanish epic verse when 
he produced the first and only epic poem dealing with 
the life of the New World. This was the Araucana, 
which he composed while campaigning against the 
Araucanian Indians of Chile and which relates 
eloquently the heroism of the old Indian chieftain 
Colocolo. Even Voltaire admitted in his introduc- 
tion to the Henriade, that the Araucana was an 
excellent poem of its kind. 

In what literature is found " the richest mine of 
poetic ballads in the world"? In that of Spain. 
The romances and cantares of the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries, found in numerous cancioneros and 
romanceros (for example, the Cancionero de Baena, the 
Romancer o general, and the Romancer o del Cid), were 
written principally by court poets in imitation of the 
old popular romances of tradition (few examples of 
which were ever preserved in printed form) ; and they 
afford some of the finest examples of pure lyric 
beauty (coupled at times with a heroic but simple 
grandeur) that can be found in the literature of any 
tongue. This great fund of ballad poetry has been 
an inexhaustible source of inspiration to poets in 
and out of Spain. 1 

1 For a full discussion of the Spanish ballad see Ticknor's 
History of Spanish Literature, Vol. I, pp. 113 to 165, particularly 
his summary on pp. 164 and 165. As many discoveries have 
been made since Ticknor wrote his monumental work, teachers 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 1 9 

What nation laid the foundation of the novel and 
later brought it to its fullest perfection ? Spain. 
The picaresque tale of early Spanish literature was 
the beginning of the genre. The Lazarillo de Tonnes, 
Guzman de Alfarache, Picara Justina, and Marcos 
de Obregon set the standard for all nations in the 
novel of adventure and intrigue. Spain has been 
called the home of the novel and at the present day 
she still holds her high place as a producer of short 
stories and novels. Palacio Valdes, Alarcon, Pereda, 
Valera, Fernan Caballero, Pardo Bazan, Alas, 
Azorin, Pio Baroja, and Blasco Ibanez have produced 
some of the best fiction of the world during the past 
seventy-five years. Our own beloved author and 
foremost critic, William Dean Howells, says of 
modern Spanish fiction : 

Take the instance of another solidified nationality 
[having mentioned the Germans previously], take the Spanish, 
and you have first-class modern fiction, easily surpassing 
the fiction of any other people of our time, now that the 
Russians have ceased to lead. 1 

It is true that even the names of many of the 
writers above given are usually unknown to the 
North American, though he may be a well-educated 
man, so closely have our schools adhered to the 
literary traditions of England, France, and Germany. 
Spanish literature contains riches long neglected in 

should, wherever possible, secure access to Ramon Menendez 
Pidal's El Romancero Espanol, published, New York, 1910, by 
The Hispanic Society. 

1 Harper's Magazine, Vol. CXXXI (November, 191 5), p. 957. 



20 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

this the most northern of the Americas, but fully- 
appreciated and ardently cherished in the Americas 
to the south. And the idea that Spanish countries 
of the Western Hemisphere have many of them a 
literature of distinctive merit and rich variety seems 
never to have crossed the mental horizon of most 
people of our land. Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and 
Mexico, to name no others, have done some very 
good work in the novel, short story, and political 
and historical writings. 

Third, a knowledge of Spanish is the key to under- 
standing a great race, in Spain and Spanish America, 
a race that has much to contribute of help to us and 
to the world at large. 

The qualities of this people, as evinced in their 
history, traditions, literature, art, and customs are 
(i) genuine courtesy. This courtesy springs from 
the heart and is manifest, even among the most 
lowly, by the most considerate attention to the needs 
of fellow creatures, especially when these fellow 
creatures are foreigners and in need of advice or 
information. Real consideration of the rights of 
others is at the base of this courtesy. As a corollary 
of and coexistent with this courtesy one notes (2) 
a marked love of democracy. The Spanish are one 
of the most democratic of peoples, contrary, possibly, 
to the preconceived notions of many North Amer- 
icans. A feeling of equality with all human kind 
lies deep in the Spaniard's heart. " All men are 
born free and equal * seems to be legible in the 
attitude of quiet dignity and self-respect that the 
Castilian always maintains. His general disregard 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 21 

of the petty regulations of government, local or 
national, makes one think : " How like the people 
of our own United States ! ' And one must likewise 
take into consideration (3) the sobriety, industry, 
and long patience of the Spaniards. They have 
had much to endure in the last 450 years in the way of 
misgovernment, but through it all they have plodded 
along, each bearing his burden philosophically and 
each " doing his bit". The Spanish dance, the click 
of the castanets, love scenes at the barred window, the 
bull fight, general indolence and the music of guitars 
— these are the things that in the minds of most 
people typify Spain. But the sturdy, steady workers 
of sun-baked Spain, who painfully till a soil that 
frequently lacks water to a sad degree, the economi- 
cal, shrewd small merchant, the skillful sheep raiser, 
the miner employed in the mines of mercury, copper, 
sulphur, antimony, tin, and cobalt, as yet but scantily 
worked though rich, the orange and the olive grower, 
the energetic business man of Barcelona, the iron- 
worker of Bilbao, the sea-going Asturian, and the 
patient Galician (who was the best laborer that Col- 
onel Goethals had in the construction of the Panama 
Canal), — these represent the real Spain, the Spain 
that is to-day going up the incline down which she 
slid so painfully for many long generations. The 
Spain of history, Imperial Spain, who undertook 
too much even for her great strength and thus met 
ruin, the Spain of the days when the sun scarcely 
set upon her wide dominions, that Spain has gone and 
a new Spain is here under the leadership of a most 
democratic and able king, and we, and all the world, 



22 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

will have to take this new Spain into reckoning in 
the pregnant years of the coming decades. A people 
that possesses the qualities mentioned cannot be kept 
forever in obscurity. 

But much more shall we have to take into account 
the daughters of Mother Spain, those Spanish- 
speaking sister republics to the south of us, with 
whose fate our own is inextricably interwoven, 
come what may out of the present world crisis. If 
there were ever any doubt of the truth of such a 
statement prior to August, 1914, that doubt has now 
forever vanished. These republics are the incarna- 
tion of the best of Hispanic thought and civilization 
and in addition they have deeply drunk of the New 
World freedom. 

The fourth distinct value for the North American, 
and the greatest value of all, of a knowledge of 
Spanish is the politico-social or international value 
making for a spiritual ideal of Pan Americanism and 
international amity in the New World. This ideal 
was admirably formulated by President Wilson in 
his message to Congress in December, 1915, when 
he said : 

That the States of America are not hostile rivals but co- 
operating friends, and that their growing sense of com- 
munity of interest, alike in matters political and in matters 
economic, is likely to give them a new significance as 
factors in international affairs and in the political history 
of the world. It presents them as in a very deep and 
true sense a unit in world affairs, spiritual partners, 
standing together because thinking together, quick with 
common sympathies and common ideals. Separated 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 23 

they are subject to all the cross currents of the con- 
fused politics of a world of hostile rivalries; united in 
spirit and purpose they cannot be disappointed of their 
peaceful destiny. 

This is Pan Americanism. It has none of the spirit of 
empire in it. It is the embodiment, the effectual embodi- 
ment, of the spirit of law and independence and liberty 
and mutual service. 

President Butler of Columbia University, in his 
annual report for November, 1914, had reference to 
this great advantage of a knowledge of Spanish 
when he said : 

It will not be possible for the people of the United 
States to enter into close relation with the peoples of 
the other American republics until the Spanish language 
is more generally spoken and written by educated persons 
here, and until there is a fuller appreciation of the mean- 
ing and significance of the history and civilization of those 
American peoples which have developed out of Spain. It 
will not be enough to teach Spanish literature and to teach 
students to read Spanish. They must also be taught to 
speak it in order that in business and in social intercourse 
they may be able to use it with freedom as a medium of 
expression. 

Geography since time immemorial and the World 
War from 1914 to 1917 set South, Central and 
North America apart from the rest of the world. 
The Monroe Doctrine, the need of North American 
capital in South and Central American enterprise, 
the need of South and Central American raw products 
in North American factories, and, recently, a com- 



24 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

munity of interest in matters of world-wide import — 
all these factors and others have served and are 
serving with a constantly increasing force to draw all 
the twenty-one cis-Atlantic republics more and more 
closely together. Our ideals are the same, our 
hopes are identical, our lines of progress are parallel 
if not convergent. 

There are but three tongues used as national 
languages in the important nations of this hemi- 
sphere — English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Is it 
not, then, passing strange that far more German is 
taught in our schools than Spanish, when among the 
languages of the Americas Spanish is second only to 
English ? And practically no Portuguese is taught 
in the schools of the United States. Why do these 
conditions exist ? Because old traditions still prevail. 
For generations Latin and Greek were considered the 
only languages deserving of a place in the curricula 
of our schools and colleges. It was only about two 
generations ago that the advocates of French and 
German dared raise their voices and claim a place 
for those languages in preparatory school and 
college. Tradition was against them. But after 
much and often bitter discussion, argument, and 
contention, French and German were given a place 
in the program of study. Three of the greatest 
figures in American letters and scholarship, Long- 
fellow, Lowell, and Ticknor, were pioneers in the 
teaching of modern languages in the United States, 
holding successively the chair of modern languages 
in Harvard University. Incidentally, all three were 
specialists in Spanish. Longfellow's poems on 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 25 

Spanish subjects and his translations of Spanish 
poetry, Lowell's letters from Spain, and Ticknor's 
history of Spanish literature, still the most com- 
pendious and painstaking that has been composed 
in the English language, speak beautifully and 
forcibly of their appreciation of things Spanish and 
connect these writers for all time with Spanish 
studies in the United States. 

The years pass and times change. America comes 
to mean more than the land north of the Gulf of 
Mexico; it dawns upon our conception that south 
of that body of water — the symbol heretofore of a 
greater gulf of thought and customs — there lie 
many republics, one of them as large as our own, 
where people call themselves Americans with as 
much pride as we do. To deal with them, to 
appreciate them, to grasp their viewpoint, to win 
their fellowship, we have at last begun to realize that 
first of all we must know their languages — Spanish 
and Portuguese. Otherwise the barrier of prejudice 
on our part still stands, and the gulf of suspicion on 
the part of South Americans still yawns. In all 
those lands much provision is made in their educa- 
tional institutions for instruction in English. 1 
They are meeting us more than halfway. We should 

1 See Report on a Trip to South America made to the Board 
of Education of New York by William T. Morrey, in the Bulletin 
of the High School Teachers' Association of New York City, 
December, 1914. Page 360 contains a " comparison of general 
courses of study in high schools of Latin America and New 
York City". Page 361 gives a " comparison of courses of 
study in commercial schools of South America and New York 
City". 



26 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

go our half of the way in spreading the two pre- 
dominant languages of the Americas. 

The greatest stride of progress in Pan American 
political relations since the days of President Monroe 
was made when President Wilson enlarged the Mon- 
roe Doctrine, which guaranteed to Hispanic America 
freedom from European aggression, by informing all 
the governments of South and Central America that 
the United States stood unselfishly ready and willing 
to make treaties with them that would insure to each 
American republic integrity of territory and freedom 
from aggression of any kind, not only on the part of 
the United States, but from any other American gov- 
ernment. The next step should be " the promotion 
of a better understanding between the peoples them- 
selves of the several American States", as Secretary 
McAdoo has expressed it. 1 He continues : 

Education a Paramount Factor 



Transportation, communication, and trade relations 
are invaluable and indispensable agencies, but educa- 
tion is a paramount factor. The Treasury Department, 
with its varied and important activities, is in itself a 
kind of university extension system, and as Secretary 
of the Treasury I am obliged to be something of a 

1 Some International Aspects of Public Education, an address 
delivered at the annual convention of the National Education 
Association held in Madison Square Garden, New York City, 
on July 6, 191 6, by Hon. William G. McAdoo, Secretary of 
the Treasury; Senate Document No. 498, Government Print- 
ing Office, Washington, 1916. 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 27 

schoolmaster myself. So I have a sympathetic compre- 
hension of the problems with which you have to deal and 
of the profound importance of the work you are doing in 
shaping and training the materiel on which the useful- 
ness and permanency of democratic institutions must 
rest not only in the United States but throughout the 
Americas. The public-school system is the very foun- 
dation of an intelligent and enlightened democracy. 

There is probably no school system in the world 
which is subjected to such constant and searching 
analysis and criticism as that of the United States. 
This is due not so much to the defects of the system 
as to the fact that under our plan of school administra- 
tion it is the public opinion of the community which 
finally deterrriines the organization, the purposes, and 
the trend of the educational system. While this has 
been the source of some weakness, it has had the great 
advantage of keeping the standards of public instruc- 
tion in relatively close touch with national needs. In 
order that our educational system may perform its 
high mission, it is necessary that it should reflect every 
change in our national life, meeting every new need as 
soon as it arises. 

We are at the present moment going through one of 
those evolutionary changes which fundamentally affect 
our international relations and involve a heavy obliga- 
tion on the common-school system of our country. 

Neglect of Latin America in the Curriculum of Our 

Schools 

What I learned in South America * impressed me 
deeply with the grave disadvantages accruing to our 

1 Mr. McAdoo speaks of the trip made to various South 
American countries by himself and the other members of the 



28 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

national life and to our international relations because 
of our widespread ignorance not only of the history 
but of the significance of the profound changes that 
have been taking place in the countries of South and 
Central America during the last 50 years and of the 
importance of the civilization that is developing in 
that section of the American continent. I do not 
mean to criticize, but simply to record a fact, when I 
say that the public schools of the United States have 
not contributed their full share toward inculcating in 
the youth of the country a proper understanding of the 
political, economic, and social development of our sister 
Republics. It is this lack of understanding that has 
prevented the growth of a sufficiently enlightened 
public opinion in the United States with reference to 
Latin-American affairs. It is this absence of sympa- 
thetic comprehension that makes it so easy to mislead 
public opinion in the United States and so often to 
cause unwitting injury to our Latin-American rela- 
tions. 

American history is taught as if it begins and ends 
with the history of the United States; American 
geography is interpreted as if it were the geography 
of the United States. In the study of commerce and 
industry the provincial view is too frequently taken 
that Latin America is merely a sort of supply of raw 
material for the United States. It is no wonder that 
the average boy and girl are inclined to look upon the 
vast territories to the south of us as a wilderness, the 
seat of a backward civilization and peopled by a back- 
ward race. 

United States section of the International High Commission 
on board the cruiser Tennessee in the spring of 191 6. 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 29 

Inspiring Development of Independent Nations 

I am sure that it is not necessary for me to burden 
you with arguments emphasizing the desirability of 
acquainting the youth of the country with the economic, 
political, and social conditions of the continent on which 
they live; but I do wish to point out the great national 
service that can be performed in making our young 
men and women better acquainted with the history, 
the literature, and the important cultural elements 
that enter into the great civilization that is develop- 
ing in Latin America. Our present lack of under- 
standing is a source of national weakness because it is 
a real obstacle to the development of that spirit of 
international cooperation without which we cannot 
hope to develop that genuine Pan Americanism for 
which we are all laboring and toward which we are 
making real progress. 

The history of the Spanish-American struggle for 
independence is a most inspiring record. The ob- 
stacles that the North American colonies had to over- 
come were not so formidable as those which confronted 
the revolted Spanish colonies. The decades immedi- 
ately succeeding the first movement for independence 
present, in the face of almost overwhelming discourage- 
ments, a record of devotion, self-sacrifice, and unswerv- 
ing faith in the ultimate triumph of free institutions 
which compel the deepest respect and admiration. The 
story of this struggle, if properly presented and inter- 
preted, would mean much to the youth of our country. 
It would make them appreciate the similarity of ideals 
which dominated the founders of the political system 
of the United States and the leaders of Latin-American 
independence, and would serve to develop a sympathetic 
understanding of the political life and institutions of 



SO SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

these countries. We are apt to think of Central and 
South America as a whole, without any appreciation 
of the fact that each country has passed through a 
different process, and that the history of the nineteenth 
century is a history of adaptation of political institu- 
tions to the economic, racial, and social environment 
peculiar to each, resulting in great diversity in form 
of government and in diversity no less striking in the 
operation of political institutions. 

During the last century the American Continent has 
been the great laboratory of political evolution, fur- 
nishing a body of material to the teacher of history 
and civics which we have hardly begun to utilize. 

Compulsory Teaching of Spanish 

The development of that true spirit of continental 
solidarity with the peoples of Central and South America 
for which we are striving would be set forward im- 
measurably if we would give more attention to their 
language and literature. The teaching of Spanish 
should be made compulsory in our public schools; in 
fact, a resolution was unanimously adopted by the 
International High Commission at Buenos Aires recom- 
mending to each Government that in all schools sup- 
ported by public funds or aided in any way by public 
funds the study of English, Spanish, and Portuguese 
should be obligatory. It is astonishing that so few 
people in our country, relatively speaking, understand 
that in the most populous Republic in South America — 
Brazil — the language is Portuguese and not Spanish. 
We do not pay enough attention to the study of Spanish 
in our schools, while, on the other hand, English is 
taught to a very large extent in the schools of South 
America. 



WHY TEACH SPANISH? 3 1 

At the present time we rarely think of citing Latin- 
American publicists and scientists. Practically no refer- 
ence is ever made to Latin-American literature. We 
pay little attention to the currents of thought of Central 
or South America ; unmindful of the fact that important 
contributions have been made and are constantly being 
made in every department of literary and scientific 
effort. I would not for a moment disparage the study 
of French or German, nor belittle the treasures which 
a knowledge of these languages unfolds, but I do wish 
to submit to you the desirability of acquainting our 
youth with the intellectual effort and the intellectual 
achievement of the American Continent. 



The Opportunity of the Public School 

I have welcomed the opportunity to lay these matters 
before you because their importance was constantly 
impressed upon me in connection with the work of the 
International High Commission. That great body was 
created by the twenty-one American Republics for the 
express purpose of removing the obstacles to closer 
financial and commercial cooperation and larger inter- 
course between the Republics of America. Every 
thoughtful person must recognize the fact that the 
public schools can contribute effectively toward the ac- 
complishment of this desirable end. It is largely a 
matter of education. 

Upon you, men and women of the National Education 
Association, rests the ultimate responsibility of making 
effective the policy of Pan Americanism formulated by 
our President in a series of addresses which have re- 
sounded throughout the entire Western Hemisphere ; 



32 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

upon you rests the task of developing in the youth of 
the country a broader understanding of the forces 
that have shaped American history, a keener apprecia- 
tion of the significance of the development of free in- 
stitutions on the American Continent, and a deeper 
sympathy with the aspirations of sister nations who, 
like ourselves, are endeavoring to translate into realities 
the ideals of American democracy. 

United States Commissioner of Education P. P. 
Claxton wrote in a circular sent, October i, 1914, 
to the principals of the high schools of the land : 

I desire to call the attention of teachers and school 
officers to the importance of teaching in our schools and 
colleges more of the geography, history, literature, and 
life of the Latin-American countries than is now taught, 
and of offering instruction in the Spanish and Por- 
tuguese languages to a much larger extent than is now 
done. 

It is not the fault of the students of our schools 
that more Spanish is not taught in our country. As 
Professor Frederick Bliss Luquiens says : l 

As far as our students are concerned, they are ready 
and willing. Some of them feel the new curiosity in 
regard to South America. Their eagerness for Spanish, 
whether their own or a reflection of the wishes of their 
parents, is one form of that undeveloped public opinion 
which is hungering for nourishment. The rest are 
moved by a consideration which has nothing to do with 

1 In The National Need of Spanish, Yale Review for July, 
1915- 



WHY TEACH, SPANISH? 33 

South America — they have inherited from former gen- 
erations of students a traditional distrust of the value 
of French and a traditional terror of the difficulties of 
German. A substitute seems a good risk. However 
unjustifiable the attitude may be, it at least acquits 
them of blame from our present viewpoint. 

In practically none of the High Schools of the United 
States, and in extraordinarily few of the colleges 
and universities, are offered courses in the history, 
the institutions, the geography, and the economic 
and financial conditions of Hispanic America, and 
this, too, in spite of the fact that Hispanic America 
is our nearest and richest field of foreign commerce. 
We may at length awaken to the need of such instruc- 
tion ; we have begun to awaken to the need of the 
study of Spanish and, to some slight extent, to the 
need of Portuguese. Ten million people who claim 
the protection of the Stars and Stripes speak Spanish 
as their mother tongue. Eighteen of the New World 
republics use Spanish as their official and common 
language, the only means of intercourse among 
themselves. 

Realizing these things, we strive to arise to the 
opportunity and the responsibility placed upon us. 
But, lo, there stands, blocking the way of progress, 
tradition, which proclaims that the disciplinary and 
cultural value of French and German so far excels 
that of Spanish that we need not trouble ourselves to 
learn Spanish. It is a condition, however, a fact, 
that confronts us, not a theory, — a geographical 
fact, an international fact, a political fact, and 
that fact is that the highest interests of our own 



34 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

people and of all the peoples of all the Americas 
demand that the youth of our land become acquainted 
at the earliest possible moment with Hispanic 
civilization, peoples, and languages. The question 
then is, after all, Shall tradition prevail over such a 
fact ? 



CHAPTER III 

THE PRESENT PROGRESS OF SPANISH IN THE SCHOOLS 

In view of the facts previously recited, it should be 
possible for the pupils of the public schools to begin 
the study of Spanish in the seventh school year 
(the first of the Junior High School). Once begun it 
should be continued through the twelfth year. The 
cumulative benefit of six years of study of a foreign 
language, throughout the period of twelve to eighteen 
years of age, would be great. Then we could hope to 
get results approximating those obtained in Europe, 
where languages are begun early (often at ten years of 
age) and continued systematically for many years. 
A second language should not be attempted until 
the beginning of the Senior High School course. 
Throughout the six-year course in Spanish in the 
Junior and Senior High Schools much attention 
should be given to the related facts of the customs, 
history, and geography of Spanish lands, and in the 
twelfth year at least three periods a week should be 
devoted to a systematic study of these related 
facts. In the college or university for at least two 
years Spanish and Spanish-American literature 
should be widely read and studied, and speaking 
and writing ability should then be more nearly 

35 



36 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

perfected. Early in the college course or late in the 
High School, Portuguese should be offered as an 
elective and provision made for continuing this 
language, by those who elect it, for at least three 
years. We are, of course, far from this ideal pro- 
gram for the young American. Some day we may 
hope to reach it. At present we are making a good 
beginning. It may be of advantage to take stock 
of what is being accomplished along the path above 
marked out. 

Spanish is accepted on a par with French and Ger- 
man, year for year, in the requirements for entrance 
to one or more of the various courses leading to 
degrees in practically all the Middle Western and 
Far Western colleges and universities. Many of 
the Eastern institutions are falling into line, among 
them some of the most conservative. One may 
cite, for instance, Harvard University, Cornell 
University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton 
University, Syracuse University, Hamilton College, 
Colgate University, Washington Square College of 
New York University, The College of the City of 
New York, Brown University, Dartmouth College, 
Amherst College, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and 
Stevens Institute of Technology. By means of the 
" comprehensive " examinations of the College En- 
trance Examinations Board, a student may at present 
offer three years of Spanish for admission to these 
and other institutions in lieu of three years of French 
or German. Unfortunately, some of these institu- 
tions make but little or no provision for the contin- 



THE PRESENT PROGRESS OF SPANISH 37 

uation of the language by the student who presents 
Spanish for entrance. 

The University of the State of New York accepts 
Spanish on a par with French or German for the 
College Entrance Diplomas in Arts, Science, or 
Engineering. A regulation to this effect was estab- 
lished for the diplomas in Science and Engineering 
by the Regents of the University in the spring of 
191 5 in response to an urgent petition presented 
by a group of New York City teachers, whose 
request was reinforced by the signatures of a 
hundred prominent educators and public men of 
the State of New York and of a few such men 
outside that state. Not until the spring of 1916 
was the regulation extended to include the diploma 
in Arts. 

Students may now, since the fall of 191 6, present 
Spanish for the Cornell University Undergraduate 
Scholarships. 

Of the language courses offered by the various 
universities in their extension and summer session 
departments, notably in Columbia University, those 
offered in Spanish invariably are attended by larger 
numbers of students than are the courses in any 
other modern language. Probably 20 per cent of 
these students in the extension work are teachers, 
while in the summer courses in Spanish easily 50 
per cent are teachers or prospective teachers who 
have seen the need of equipping themselves to teach 
the language. The need, however, in both of the 
departments mentioned has been and is of more 
advanced courses in Spanish and Spanish-American 



38 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

literature, and most particularly are needed courses 
in the methods and materials in Spanish. 

In Indiana University there are more students 
enrolled in Spanish than in any other one subject 
of study. In the United States Naval Academy 
Spanish has recently been made the foreign language 
of greatest importance in the curriculum, and our 
future naval officers must now pursue the study of 
that language for four years instead of two as 
formerly. 

As an instance of the spread of Spanish to the 
normal schools may be cited the fact that in the 
New York State College for Teachers at Albany 
two large classes in the language were inaugurated 
in the fall of 1916 and the study of Spanish in that 
institution is now well established. 

The growing realization that " the high school is 
the college of the common people ' is doubtless 
indicated in the fact that there is a greater and more 
immediate responsiveness in high school administra- 
tion to the demands of the community than is 
perceptible in the administration of the college 
proper with its entrenched traditions and more 
conservative aims. The people at large seem more 
deeply aroused to the need of Spanish than are the 
professional educators, at least those engaged in the 
college field. Thus may be explained in large 
measure the fact that the study of Spanish is making 
more rapid growth in the High Schools than in the 
institutions of higher rank. 

It is difficult to collate exact statistics from the 
country at large to show the increase in high school 



THE PRESENT PROGRESS OF SPANISH 



39 



classes in Spanish. Perhaps the author may be 
allowed to state that his personal experience includes 
the receipt during the past three or four years of 
numerous requests from principals and modern 
language teachers in various parts of the United 
States for a suggested syllabus in Spanish or an 
indication of suitable books for the beginning of a 
high school course in that language. And as the one 
in charge of the modern language instruction in the 
High Schools of the City of New York, he has been 
able to gather the following figures as to registration 
of students in the various foreign languages of those 
schools. On March 15, 1917, the following was 
the condition that prevailed in the 24 High Schools 
of the greater city, 20 of which had classes in Spanish : 



Terms 1 


i 


ii 


iii 


iv 


V 


vi 


vii 


viii 


Total 


French 


3751 


2854 


3003 


2315 


2206 


IO94 


273 


218 


I4>714 


German 


5859 


5309 


4I03 


3383 


2282 


1993 


485 


484 


23,898 


Italian 


17 


18 


17 


22 


22 


7 


— 


— 


103 


Latin 


4161 


3624 


3042 


2466 


1649 


i486 


432 


549 


17,409 


Spanish 


6952 


3223 


1495 


915 


404 


199 


82 


92 


13,362 



It will be noted that the registration in the first 
term of this table pictures the conditions of March 
15, 1 91 7, while the figures given for the second 
term would show the relative standing of the lan- 
guages in the previous half year, say of October 
15, 1916, and those of the fourth term represent 

1 Term is used as synonymous with half year or semester. 



40 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

the status of October 15, 1914, and so forth. Thus 
is evident a steady and marked drift to Spanish. It 
should be remarked that in a few of these schools 
Spanish (and likewise French) could be chosen only 
as a second foreign language, it being compulsory, 
because of long custom, to complete successfully 
first at least a year of Latin or German, after which 
a choice might be made between a second foreign 
language or a science : chemistry or physics. 
Spanish had also suffered the additional handicap 
of being elective in some schools only in commer- 
cial courses. But in January, 1917, Acting City 
Superintendent Straubenmiiller, at the request of 
Associate Superintendent Tildsley, in charge of high 
schools, had the following circular notice sent to all 
the principals of elementary schools : 

Principals of elementary schools will please notify the 
pupils in their graduating classes that they are allowed 
to select on the blank that is sent to the high schools 
either Spanish, French, German or Latin (in other than 
the commercial or technical courses). If a sufficient 
number of applicants for a given high school choose 
Spanish and a teacher is available, Spanish will be given 
February 5, 191 7, even though it has not been offered 
in that school heretofore. 

This direction, which did much to create an equal 
opportunity for the study of Spanish in the High 
Schools, doubtless contributed largely to the number, 
6952, who on March 15, 1917, were registered in 
Spanish classes. In May, 1917, Associate Superin- 
tendent Tildsley further clarified the situation in re- 



THE PRESENT PROGRESS OF SPANISH 



41 



gard to instruction in Spanish in the High Schools 
by giving as a specific direction to the principals of 
those schools that an entering student should be in- 
formed that he may choose, as his first language, 
either Spanish, French, German, or Latin on an equal 
basis and that in commercial and technical schools the 
entering student should be offered Spanish, French, 
and German on a par. 

As a result, Spanish is now being taught for the 
first time in the history of Greater New York in all 
the High Schools — 24 in number. The following 
table, compiled as of October 5, 1917, represents the 
relative status of the several languages at that date. 



Terms 


i 


ii 


iii 


iv 


V 


vi 


vii 


viii 


Total 


French 

German 

Italian 

Latin 

Spanish 


5075 

3151 

14 

4118 

7776 


2525 
3862 

3"3 

4577 


2644 
3523 

33 
2731 
1990 


2036 

2846 

IO 

20IO 

937 


1214 

1874 
1599 

615 


IO24 
IS68 

17 
1271 

315 


271 

375 

493 
119 


l8l 

312 

330 
46 


14,970 
17^11 

74 
15.665 

i6,375 



In any interpretation that may be put upon these 
statistics, one must observe that the registration in 
the High Schools was 68,465 on February 28, 1917, 
and 66,955 on September 30, 1917. 1 

The above somewhat detailed recital of events in 
the language situation in the New York City High 
Schools has been given because it is believed that 
these events have had their approximate counter- 
part in the High Schools of most of the large cities. 

1 See Addenda for the figures of February, 1918. 



42 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Of course, in the Southwest and in the Far West 
Spanish has for several years been studied by a 
greater proportion of the high school and college 
students than was the case in most of the other 
sections of the land. The local conditions, created by 
the presence there of a considerable body of Spanish- 
speaking people, have been responsible for this 
fact. However, the recent renascence of interest 
in Spanish has made itself strongly felt in those 
regions as well as in other places. And it is of note 
that the High School of Dallas, Texas, apparently has 
the distinction of being the first High School of the 
land to offer Portuguese to its students. Courses 
in that language were instituted there in the fall of 
1916 under the direction of Mr. M. A. De Vitis. 

The Middle West has shown in the past two years 
a commendable interest in Spanish, as has also the 
Northwest. The South was probably the first 
section of the country, after the East, to respond 
in its school system to the desire of the people for 
Spanish. In fact, had the advocates of Spanish 
carried on even a small proportion of the propaganda 
that the German specialists have waged so un- 
ceasingly for many years, a much greater trend to 
Spanish than now exists would be in evidence. But 
this trend has manifested itself absolutely without 
any organized efforts at propaganda, except that 
which has already been noted as made in 1914-1916 
in the State of New York. 

One should also make mention here of the fact that 
the private preparatory schools have been very 
quick to meet the wishes of their patrons to have 



THE PRESENT PROGRESS OF SPANISH 43 

instruction in Spanish offered in the modern lan- 
guage departments. Several could be mentioned ; 
one will suffice as an illustration. In the fall of 
191 3 there were in Culver Military Academy, 
Culver, Indiana, under the instruction of Captain 
Charles P. Harrington, three classes in Spanish ; 
in 1914, five classes; in 1915, six classes; in 1916, 
nine classes; in 1917 Captain Harrington and two 
assistants had in Spanish twelve classes as compared 
with ten classes in the French Department and six 
in the German. 

The private business schools have, of course, been 
teaching Spanish, chiefly from the commercial 
standpoint, for a number of years, and these classes 
have recently been very appreciably augmented in 
numbers of students. 

It seems quite probable that the conditions just 
described as existing in the language departments of 
the various kinds of secondary schools may have 
eventually an interesting effect upon the higher 
institutions. Will not the colleges and universities 
be compelled by these conditions to provide a 
greater number of advanced courses in Spanish to 
meet the demands of students coming to them from 
the schools of lower grade ? Time alone will tell. 

Finally, in considering the progress that Spanish 
has made as a subject of study in the schools, it 
remains to mention briefly the Intermediate School 
or the Junior High School. To the author it seems 
questionable whether in the school system of the 
United States it is advisable or desirable to begin the 
study of a foreign language at all in the present eight- 



44 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

year elementary school, even at a point as advanced 
as the seventh or eighth year of that course. The 
teaching of foreign languages in the grades, as at 
present conducted, has made not for Americanism 
but for the isms of the country whose language has 
been studied. Also, the program in those schools 
should be devoted to the more essential things — 
to the three R's, if you will. Moreover, careful 
observation, without, however, the reinforcement 
of statistical tables, leads to the belief that time 
devoted to modern languages in the grades, under 
present conditions, is mostly time wasted. Few 
pupils who have studied French and German in the 
grades have been able to secure advanced standing in 
those languages on entering High School, and fewer 
yet have been able to maintain advanced standing 
if granted. This may be due in varying degree to 
lack of capable teachers of foreign languages in the 
grade schools, to lack of proper supervision and 
direction, lack of proper methods, properly planned 
syllabi or properly adapted text books, or lack of 
proper articulation between the high and elementary 
school, — or it may be due to all of these weaknesses. 
And yet, beyond question, it is with pupils of the 
age of those in the last two years of the present grade 
schools that the study of languages should be begun 
for reasons previously stated. What, then, is the 
solution of the difficulty ? 

The well organized Junior High School will solve 
the problem presented. Such a school comprising, 
let us say, the seventh, eighth, and ninth years of 
school work will provide (i) departmental teaching, 



THE PRESENT PROGRESS OF SPANISH 45 

whereby the modern languages will be taught by 
specialists, (2) teachers having the same standard of 
training and ability (and receiving the same, or ap- 
proximately the same, salaries) as those who teach 
in the present four-year High School, (3) a modified 
system of electives, whereby a pupil, with the help 
and advice of teacners and parents, may choose the 
language he prefers, (4) the segregation of pupils by 
courses, (5) instruction and training of the young 
student, under supervision, as to how to study, and 
(6) close articulation with and preparation for the 
Senior High School. 

It will be presumed that the Junior High School 
referred to in this book will have assumed at least 
the above mentioned characteristics distinguishing it 
from the old type of elementary school, in which this 
new type of school is frequently first established. 

A Junior High School organized in the manner 
above described will not, can not, be conducted as 
a money-saving proposition. The greatest obstacle 
to the proper development of the Junior High School 
has been the fact that boards of education have seen 
in this new type of school a way, first of all, to have 
the usual high school courses of the lower terms 
taught by elementary school teachers whose salaries 
are generally much less than those paid to teachers 
in the four-year High School ; moreover, they have 
placed these schools under the supervision of ele- 
mentary school principals who are likewise less 
highly paid than are high school principals. In 
many cases the result has been what might well 
have been expected — inferior work because of 



46 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

inadequately paid and insufficiently trained teachers 
supervised by principals similarly handicapped for 
this particular kind of work. 

Spanish is taught at present in four of the sixteen 
Intermediate Schools in New York City. These 
schools have lacked a common standard of instruction 
inthelanguage. Conditions have probably been more 
"hit-or-miss " in regard to the Spanish syllabus than 
those that have prevailed in the Junior High Schools of 
other cities. These conditions have come about natu- 
rally enough because no one in authority over these 
schools (they are not as yet classified under the High 
School department) has shown any particular interest 
in the direction of the work in Spanish. The course 
of study in Spanish in Los Angeles Intermediate 
Schools has, however, been carefully worked out and 
the results are said to be quite satisfactory. But 
if Spanish (or any other foreign language) is to be 
taught successfully in the Junior High Schools of the 
United States, as successfully as the opportunity thus 
provided warrants and the needs of the nation 
require, there must be in these schools (i) well pre- 
pared, well paid teachers who are specialists in the 
language, (2) especially adapted methods of teaching, 
(3) suitable texts, and (4) carefully planned courses 
of study. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PREPARATION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 
TEACHER OF SPANISH 

The lack, previously mentioned, of well trained 
teachers of Spanish has been a serious handicap in 
many cases to the growth of that language in the 
schools, lower and higher. Many schools would 
have instituted instruction in Spanish had it been 
possible to secure competent instructors. Heads of 
modern language departments have had to take 
either North Americans with a limited knowledge 
of Spanish — sometimes lamentably limited — but 
with an understanding of methods and of pupils, 
or, on the other hand, teachers who were of Spanish 
or Spanish-American origin with usually no under- 
standing of our methods of teaching and lacking al- 
most entirely in comprehension of that, to them, 
peculiar creature, the American child, and likewise in- 
capable, naturally, of appreciating the difficulties of 
Spanish for the English-speaking person. This is not 
said to belittle in any way the teachers who are of 
Spanish or Spanish-American birth. They are badly 
needed in the Spanish classes of our schools to-day, 
if and when they have succeeded in acquiring (i) 
the point of view of North American students in 
general and of those who study Spanish in particular, 

47 



48 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

(2) a good knowledge of English, and (3) methods 
and educational ideals that are followed in our 
school system. Such teachers can be of great help 
and inspiration to their colleagues, the " Yankee v 
teachers of Spanish, and a far greater number of 
them, equipped in this way, are desired than can 
probably be found. Teachers who are bilingual in 
English and Spanish are very few in number as 
compared with those who are bilingual in English 
and, say, German. Out of the two classes of Span- 
ish teachers mentioned the head of department has 
struggled to make good teachers, with what mediocre 
success in many cases can well be imagined. In 
cities having a local system of licensing teachers 
upon examination, an insufficient number of candi- 
dates present themselves, and the Spanish work 
has therefore been placed necessarily in the hands of 
substitute teachers, many of whom have been in- 
capable of qualifying as regularly licensed teachers. 
Recently, however, in some cities, in the midst of 
this need an unexpected source of supply has become 
available — excess teachers of German. This is 
not said slightingly. The teachers of French and 
German have blazed the way for the teacher of 
Spanish. They were in the field first. They have 
struggled long with the general problems of modern 
language instruction and have secured for modern 
languages in general their due place in the program 
of study. Students of beginning Spanish, if in the 
hands of experienced teachers of French or German, 
already trained and successful in the use of a modified 
form of the direct method, would surely stand a 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 49 

better chance of successfully acquiring the rudi- 
ments of Spanish than if they were taught by 
Spanish-speaking teachers unacquainted with our 
methods and ways of dealing with our children. 
However, the above statement is made only with the 
strong proviso, that these skilled teachers of German 
or French already know the elements of Spanish, 
have a reasonably good pronunciation of that lan- 
guage, continue studying, in some of the ways 
mentioned later, the phonetics, the language, and 
the literature, and make every effort to become as 
expert in presentation, drill, and conversation in 
Spanish as in the other language in which they are 
already specialists. And in the larger cities having 
a local system of licensing teachers, such teachers 
should, it seems, secure in the accustomed way the 
special license to teach Spanish. That would be a 
further earnest of their intention to put forth their 
best efforts in the new field. Spanish must not 
become a kind of limbo for excess teachers of any 
subject. Neither should Spanish be a last resort for 
weak students, as has, alas ! been the case in some 
schools in the past. It is quite true, of course, 
that outside of the large cities most high school 
language teachers still have to teach two or even 
three foreign languages. But, for them, requirements 
for permission to teach classes in Spanish should be 
made as rigid as they are made for permission to 
teach any other of the languages. In this connection 
it is pertinent to take note here of a certain attitude 
of dUettanteism toward Spanish that is still rather 
noticeably evident. This has been true of the view- 



go SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

point of principals, teachers, and students. Recently 
many a teacher of French, of Latin, or even of 
German, who has at some time in the indefinite past 
toyed a bit with Spanish, has volunteered to take 
charge of the newly established Spanish class or 
classes. This affords a novel experience, a breaking 
up of the monotony of teaching some other subject 
which the teacher is better qualified to teach. 
"Spanish", they said, "is easy. Any one who 
knows French or Latin can teach Spanish. Let me 
have a fling at it, if these pupils want Spanish ". 
And the principal, thus easily settling a perplexing 
problem, said, "Have your fling". And thus was 
the Spanish language disseminated — literally — in 
that and many another school. Shades of Quintilian 
and Cervantes ! Better had Spanish never been 
offered at all than offered in this way. 

The would-be Spanish teacher has no mean task 
ahead of him if he would be a worthy occupant of 
his post. As was related in the Introduction of 
this book, he will have fewer aids at hand than will 
the prospective teacher of French and German. And 
so his preparation, if conscientiously made, and his 
later work, if properly performed, will probably be 
more arduous than that of his French or German 
colleague. What, then, shall the prospective teacher 
of Spanish do to prepare himself well for his life 
task ? Suppose we consider here what his ideal 
preparation would be. Some day it will be feasible. 
We shall assume that this person is a North American 
(for experience has shown that the North American, 
other things being equal, when trained thoroughly 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 5 1 

in Spanish, makes the best teacher of that language 
in the schools of the United States), that he possesses 
the necessary qualities of good health, good humor, 
sympathy with young folks, ambition, and a liking 
for school work. 

Academic Training 

The first and most obvious requirement of a 
teacher is that he know his subject. Let us say 
that our future teacher of Spanish has had three 
years of Spanish in the High School (and in addition, 
three years of Latin) in which study emphasis has 
been placed upon the acquisition of the language by 
training in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing it. 
Coincident therewith he will have had a minimum 
of three periods a week for one year of the study of 
the history and geography of Hispanic lands. He 
will also have the advantage of membership for three 
years in a Spanish club conducted under the super- 
vision of an enthusiastic teacher. When he enters 
the college or university he will find there courses 
which continue his high school work, chiefly by 
affording instruction in the literature of Spain and 
Spanish America. Romance languages will be his 
"'major" work and Spanish his principal Romance 
language. The novela, the drama, the ballad, the 
short story, will be studied in courses covering the 
various centuries of the long history of Spanish 
literature. Special attention will be given to the 
Siglo de Oro and to the Spanish prose of the nineteenth 
and twentieth centuries. A careful study will be 



52 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

made of the interrelation of the literary movements 
of Spain and those of England, France, and Italy. 
His ability to converse in correct Spanish will be 
heightened by membership in the Spanish club of the 
college and by association with students from Spanish 
lands. He will acquire a good reading knowledge of 
German that he may read later the works of the 
German scholars on Romance philology, on Spanish 
literature and phonetics. Later in his college course 
he will devote himself, if time permits, to Romance 
philology in general and Spanish philology in partic- 
ular. He will, of course, give a due portion of his 
time to studies in education, in which he will pay 
particular heed to high school problems and, by in- 
dependent reading, to the principles of psychology 
that lie at the basis of language study and teaching. 
His history courses will comprise at least a year of 
work devoted to the history, institutions, art, and 
education of Spain and particularly of the Spanish- 
American republics. 

His graduate work will be done partly in America 
and partly abroad. His study of Spanish literature 
will be intensified and broadened. Philology, pho- 
netics, and pedagogy with attention to the problems 
of the modern language teacher will also receive con- 
siderable attention from our teacher-in-the-making. 
In America, part of his graduate work will consist 
of courses on Spanish in secondary schools and on the 
organization of materials to be used in the high 
school. He should, if possible, obtain experience 
in teaching in the practice school of the School of 
Education of the university where he studies. The 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 53 

technique of teaching will be a matter to him of great 
interest and investigation. When abroad, where he 
should study consecutively for two years, if at all 
possible, in accredited schools or universities, he 
will, of course, get his intimate, first-hand knowledge 
of the customs, institutions, educational ideals, 
mode of life, manners, art and architecture remote 
and modern, of Hispanic peoples. Needless to 
say, his mastery of spoken Spanish will be made as 
nearly perfect as possible by living that same daily 
life that Spanish people do. Fortunately, in Spain 
at least, he will have little temptation to use English, 
as English is, indeed, Greek to practically all 
Spaniards in town or country. 

He will study 1 at the Universidad Central of Madrid 
under such professors as R. Menendez Pidal, 
Romance philology ; Americo Castro, history of the 
Spanish language ; Elias Tormo, history of art ; 
Manuel B. Cossio, pedagogy; Rafael Altamira, 
institutions of America ; Eduardo de Hinojosa, 
history of America; A. Bonilla y San Martin, 
history of philosophy ; M. Gomez Moreno, history 
of Arabic art in Spain ; Julian Ribera, history of the 
Arabs in Spain; Miguel Asin, Arabic; Abraham S. 
Yahuda, history of the Jews in Spain. 

The Centro de Estudios (of the Junta para Amplia- 
tion de Estudios) j situated in the building of the 
Biblioteca Nacional, has a very good library and 
collection of important reviews. Of much interest 

1 Much of the following information has been supplied by 
Professor Federico de Onis of Columbia University, who is also 
catedrdtico of the University of Salamanca. 



54 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

and usefulness to the foreign student is the laboratory 
in phonetics conducted by Tomas Navarro Tomas, 
the leading phonetician of Spain. There are seminars 
in various subjects and regular courses, all conducted 
by professors of the greatest ability, such as Alta- 
mira, Tormo, Gomez Moreno, Hinojosa, and Ortega 
y Gasset. The director is Professor Menendez Pidal 
and the secretary T. Navarro Tomas. Besides sum- 
mer courses for foreigners during July and August 
there are offered cursos triniestrales, October to De- 
cember, January to March, and April to June. 

The Ateneo of Madrid provides probably the 
finest opportunities to the foreign student for getting 
thoroughly in touch with the best in modern Spanish 
civilization and culture. He may receive all the 
benefits of the Ateneo for the very reasonable fee 
of 15 pesetas a month. The library of modern books 
is the best in Madrid. Newspapers and reviews of 
all kinds from all countries are available. Lectures 
are given almost every day, often by the best writers, 
scientists, and specialists in art and literature. Even- 
ing concerts are frequent. In short, the Ateneo is 
the best center in which to follow the literary move- 
ment of modern Spain. 

The Residencia de Estudiantes, conducted by the 
Junta para Ampliation de Estudios {Ministerio de In- 
struction Publica), has separate quarters for men and 
for women and is equipped in the most modern style. 
It is designed primarily for Spanish students, but a 
certain proportion of foreign students can be accom- 
modated. Rates are moderate, 5 to 7 pesetas a day, 
including room, excellent meals, heating, baths, etc. 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 55 

Outside of Madrid our student will find in Sala- 
manca very desirable courses in the ancient univer- 
sity of that city. Here the famous scholar, Miguel 
Unamuno, gives courses in the history of the Spanish 
language and in the Greek language and literature. 
Angel Apraiz conducts the work in the history of 
art. There is in this city an Ateneo where lectures 
are frequently given. Salamanca offers the advan- 
tages of a very old institution with opportunities for 
forming close friendships and for getting thoroughly 
acquainted with traditional Spanish life. One may 
live there for from 8 to 10 pesetas a day in the best 
hotels. 

Excepting those of Madrid and Salamanca, the 
universities of Spain offer little of value to the Amer- 
ican student. With the additional exception of the 
university at Valladolid, the higher institutions are 
located in dialectal regions — Andalusia, Catalonia, 
Galicia, etc. — and while our student should visit 
these regions in order to see all types of Spanish life, 
he should not waste time in those places if he desires 
particularly to know well the Spanish language and 
literature. Living in Spain may in general be esti- 
mated at the rate of 10 pesetas a day, though it is 
possible to live comfortably for less. 

Outside of Spain the American student will also 
find considerable profit in the courses of Professors 
Martinenche at the Sorbonne in Paris, Cirot at 
Bordeaux, the two Merimees, one at Toulouse and 
the other at Montpellier, and Fitzmaurice-Kelly at 
the University of London. 

But Spain he must know well, for from Spain 



56 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

emanate the race ideals, viewpoints, philosophy of 
life, art, religion, and even to a great extent, the polit- 
ical ideals, of the republics which in the New World 
developed out of the civilization of Spain — a fact 
that some seem to disregard when they advocate the 
study of Spanish in the United States almost entirely 
from the Spanish-American point of view. In other 
words, for a broad and deep comprehension of Span- 
ish America, the first essential is an understanding 
of the ideals and history of the mother country. 
For instance, Spanish-American literature without 
its background of Spanish literature, and our own 
literature without that of England for its background, 
both stand stark and tenuous in the searching light 
of criticism. One cannot perceive, one cannot ap- 
preciate the finer shades of beauty inherent in the 
literatures of the New World without the contrasting, 
enriching, and softening effects imparted by the 
background of the mother literature of the Old World 
nation. 

But our teacher of Spanish will not neglect His- 
panic America. The marvelous republics that lie 
but partly developed under southern constellations, 
forming that America " que aun reza a Jesucristo 
y aun habla en espanol", are dormant giants that 
one day will rise in their might and claim the atten- 
tion of all the world. In their cities exist universities 
and schools of ancient founding, some of them with 
student bodies of more than 2000 in number. Not 
Harvard but San Marcos in Peru is the oldest uni- 
versity of the New World. And in the halls, libra- 
ries, and laboratories of these institutions learned 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 57 

men, of origins as diverse as those of North American 
savants, are ceaselessly at work to increase the fund 
of human knowledge. 

So our teacher could profitably spend a year living 
amid the various types of Hispanic civilization of 
South America — as diverse as the countries in which 
they flourish — and studying in their universities, 
especially in those of Argentina, Uruguay, or Chile, 
the literature and history of those lands. Most 
especially would he thus come to appreciate the 
differing national characteristics and problems of 
these various nations and thus be able to advise 
intelligently his future students who might be partic- 
ularly interested in Hispanic America. And, not 
least of all, he would have a chance to study the 
various kinds of Spanish spoken there. In Brazil he 
would study the Western World Portuguese as dis- 
tinguished from that of Portugal. He would, be- 
cause of his standing as a scholar, be admitted to 
the society of educators, writers, artists, and public 
men. Finally, he will return to the United States 
and receive his Doctorate of Philosophy in some uni- 
versity, on the basis of original investigations he will 
have been able to make along some line in his studies 
and travels in Spanish lands. 

All this, it will be said, is too ideal. The answer 
to that objection is : First, woe to him who sets too 
low an ideal. Second, there are at present teachers 
of Spanish who have been able to encompass practi- 
cally all that is here outlined, though possibly not 
in the exact sequence suggested and not as easily 
as these paragraphs may seem to indicate. Third, 



58 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

the schools and universities of our country will no 
doubt in time be equipped to supply a larger portion 
of this training than they do at present. Fourth, 
there will doubtless be worked out in the course of 
time a successful plan for the interchange of North 
and South American teachers, in both the high school 
and the university fields. Such powerful organiza- 
tions as the Pan American Union, the Pan American 
Conferences and the American Association for 
International Conciliation, the universities, and 
other societies that could be mentioned, cannot fail 
eventually to make provision for this interchange of 
teachers. This should be begun first in the secondary 
schools of the two continents, for these institutions 
are more closely in touch with the life of the peoples 
of the several nations. A corollary of this plan would 
be an arrangement for the interchange of university 
students. 

The sequence of the steps in the later stages of 
this program will, of course, often be necessarily varied 
by many practical considerations. Few who would 
teach are able to continue in graduate work after 
obtaining the bachelor's degree. A period of teach- 
ing and economizing is usually necessary in prepara- 
tion for foreign study or for graduate study at home. 
But if the aspirant is so fortunate as to secure a 
teaching position in a university town, a large part 
of his graduate work may be done coincidentally 
with his teaching. Lacking this, there are summer 
school courses in which some of the phases of the 
work suggested may be done, or, in the near future, 
such studies will be possible in summer session. 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 59 

There are, since 191 2, courses for foreigners conducted 
in Madrid by the Junta para Ampliation de Estudios, 
which organization may be addressed at Moreto, 1, 
of that city. Many of these courses, described 
above, are planned particularly to aid North Amer- 
icans who wish to teach Spanish. The Spanish gov- 
ernment, through the Ministerio de Instruction 
Publica y Bellas Artes, is taking an increasingly active 
part in fostering this instruction to foreigners. 1 The 
courses offered grow richer and more varied every 
year. 

Other " Means of Grace" 

And when the above program has been accom- 
plished, mayhap after many years of endeavor, even 
then the teacher's efficiency and enthusiasm must 
be kept aglow, the tools of his trade must be kept 
sharp, by association in organized societies with 
other teachers of Spanish, by reading modern 
language journals and by writing for them, and by 
observing the work of other teachers of languages in 
his own and other schools. The Spanish teacher, to 
keep abreast of the times, should be a member of 
modern language associations and particularly of The 
American Association of Teachers of Spanish and a 
reader of HISPANIA, the organ of that Association. 
Occasional visits to Spanish countries, possibly to 
those he has not seen before, will stimulate and 
keep alert his zeal and enthusiasm. The lover of 
things Spanish is peculiarly fortunate in that he has 

1 See Chapter XVII for further information in this respect. 



6o SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

not one but nineteen separate and distinct nations of 
Spanish speech which he can visit and where he 
can enjoy countless and varying manifestations of 
Spanish society, art, language, and letters. 

The Sabbatical Year 

For the full enjoyment and benefit of residence and 
travel abroad, a continuous stay of at least six 
months seems an irreducible minimum. Otherwise 
the returns are hardly commensurate with the invest- 
ment necessary of time and money. What, then, 
can the Spanish teacher, with his two or, at most, 
three months of vacation, do that he may avail 
himself of the inestimable benefit of study in a 
Spanish land for the minimum time stated ? So far 
as his own action in the matter is concerned, his only 
course seems to be to absent himself from his post a 
half or whole school year for this purpose. But this 
is easier said than done. A limited purse and un- 
consenting school authorities are usually insuperable 
barriers. And yet if he is doing his duty as an up-to- 
date language teacher, he is expected to have a 
marked fluency in Spanish in order to handle effec- 
tively the newer methods of teaching, to have a 
thorough knowledge of the life, customs, geography, 
history, and institutions of Spanish lands, to be an 
interpreter of Spanish civilization. But when he 
has not been so fortunate as to complete a program of 
training similar to that above described, or when he 
feels again the call of sunny Spain and longs again to 
hear Castilian speech from Castilian lips and to steep 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 6l 

himself again in the traditions of age-old Spain, or 
when he realizes his great need of a first-hand ac- 
quaintance with Spanish-American countries, he 
cannot repress a feeling of envy of his colleague in 
the college world who, no matter whether a foreign 
language teacher or not, has his sabbatical year or 
leave of absence on half or full pay. The secondary 
school teacher's work is surely as worthy and im- 
portant as, more exacting, more nerve-racking, more 
voluminous, and more closely supervised than is 
that of the college teacher, and yet the former has 
not the long vacation and the sabbatical year that 
the latter enjoys. Boards of education in control 
of High Schools seem exceedingly slow in realizing 
that in granting to modern language teachers in High 
Schools, Junior or Senior, a sabbatical year on half 
pay or a half year on full pay, for the purpose of 
study in the country or countries whose languages 
they teach, they would be doing probably the one 
most helpful thing they could do to improve the 
teaching of modern languages in the United States, 
and that, in so doing, they would be only following 
the policy long ago adopted by many boards of 
trustees of universities (usually held to be most 
conservative bodies) not only with regard to teachers 
of modern languages but for teachers of all subjects. 
In the larger cities, at least, this failure to grant a 
sabbatical period cannot be justified on the ground 
of expense. For instance, a teacher receiving an 
annual salary of $2050 (the ninth year salary in 
New York City), if allowed a year of absence on half 
pay, would receive #1025 from the city. To take his 



62 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

place, a substitute teacher could be secured for the 
192 school days of the year at $4.00 per day, or 
#768, which, added to the #1025 of half salary for the 
regular teacher, would make $1793 instead of the 
#2050 that would otherwise be paid the regular 
teacher. Of course, the higher up in the salary 
schedule a teacher were, the more the city would 
save. Few teachers would be eligible for a sabbatical 
year whose annual salary would not be greater 
than their half salary plus the substitute's pay. It 
is true that there would probably be less efficient 
teaching of the teacher's classes while they were in 
the hands of the substitute, but any loss thus 
occasioned would be far outweighed by the gain in 
the efficiency and zeal of the absent teacher when 
he returned to duty. The granting of the sabbati- 
cal period would make more easily possible the ideal 
preparation of the Spanish teacher advocated in this 
chapter. 

War times are clearly inopportune times in which 
to seek the sabbatical year for teachers for study 
abroad, but one of the first educational movements 
to follow the close of the war should be a great con- 
certed effort of modern language teachers in the 
High Schools of the United States to secure the 
sabbatical year for this purpose. Our boasted 
" splendid isolation " as a nation is gone ; our rela- 
tions with non-English-speaking nations are, and 
hereafter always will be, very close. Upon the ter- 
mination of the Great War, the increased commercial 
competition between European nations and our coun- 
try as well as closer bonds, friendly and commercial, 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 63 

between some of those nations and our own will 
give to the study of foreign languages in the United 
States, and especially to Spanish, a new meaning and 
impetus, and one of the best innovations in educa- 
tional policy that we as a nation could make would 
be to provide, in the manner suggested, for the im- 
provement of modern language instruction. 

The ideals we have set in the foregoing paragraphs 
for the preparation and continued improvement of 
the teacher of Spanish hold equally well for any 
one of the three types of High School mentioned — 
the present four-year High School, the Senior High 
School, or the Junior High School. The pupil in 
the seventh, eighth, or ninth school year needs a 
teacher of Spanish fully as competent and well 
prepared as does the senior in college; rather, he 
needs a more competent one. Gongorism, the me- 
tathesis of consonants and liquids, the structure of 
Spanish verse, the wars of Alphonso the Wise, or 
Comenius' theories of modern language teaching 
may not be fit matters for instruction in the Junior 
High School class in Spanish, but a knowledge of 
these and many other similar things, on the part of 
the teacher of Spanish, should give him a better 
perspective of his task, make his own mental life 
richer and keener, and thereby make more inspiring 
and helpful his teaching of Spanish to pupils of 
whatever class. 



CHAPTER V 

THE AIM IN TEACHING SPANISH 

Any consideration of methods in teaching Spanish 
proves to be more or less useless until the aim or 
object in teaching the language is determined. 
What, then, is our aim ? Is it to equip pupils so that 
they may act successfully as interpreters on the 
troubled Mexican border or at Ellis Island, or as 
waiters in a Spanish boarding-house in the Spanish 
section of the city, or as correspondents in inter- 
national trading-houses, or as translators of Nick 
Carter stories into Spanish, or as conductors of 
North American tourist parties through the, to 
many, undiscovered delights of somnolent, sun- 
baked Spain, prepared glibly to cry as they lead the 
way, " Aqui se ve a la izquierda una pintura de 
Murillo, la mas famosa de todas las que pinto ese 
gran maestro; tiene mucho merito," or shall we 
train our students to be dreamy followers of the sad- 
visaged Knight of La Mancha, que en gloria este> 
given over to chivalrous deeds of doubtful merit 
though prompted by high ideals, or shall we prepare 
them only to enjoy the rich literature of Spain and 
Spanish America, or shall we school them especially 
to be learned delvers in the more or less virgin field 
of Spanish philology ? 

64 



THE AIM IN TEACHING SPANISH 65 

To answer Yes to only one, no matter which, of these 
questions would be Quixotic indeed. To say Yes 
to the entire group of questions would more nearly 
hit the mark, for the training we should give a pupil 
in Spanish, from the Junior High School up, ought 
to equip him so that he could, if need be, or if the 
desire arose, exercise in any one of these lines in a 
creditable manner, though to a limited extent, the 
Spanish he has learned from us. 

The aim of the teacher of Spanish in the United 
States should be to effect that thorough mental 
discipline which is imparted by a study of grammar, 
idiom, and syntax ; and so to develop that ready and 
accurate facility of ear, tongue, and eye that, all 
combined, will make the present and future use of 
the language, and progress therein, both possible 
and certain. We cannot in two or three years, nay 
even in six, assure a student a complete mastery of 
Spanish. But we can and should so have trained 
him that he may apply his knowledge of Spanish 
to any one end or to several ends with the self- 
confidence (conscious or unconscious) that he can 
easily grow up to the demands that may be made 
upon his knowledge of the language. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE METHOD TO BE USED IN TEACHING SPANISH 

If such is the aim posited in teaching Spanish, 
how are we to attain this consummation so devoutly 
to be wished ? The answer is : by appealing con- 
stantly to all the senses involved in learning a 
language, by variety of method of procedure in 
teaching. We will train the pupil's eye in reading 
and writing Spanish ; his ear in hearing others read 
and speak Spanish ; his tongue and other vocal organs 
by practical phonetics and by causing him to speak 
Spanish ; his motor nerves and muscles by causing 
him to give instant response to commands in 
Spanish that require immediate action and to 
write sentence and paragraph units in Spanish. 
Only through the reports of the different sensory 
nerves to the brain is material provided for the 
mind to react upon. Without these sense reports 
the mind would perish of starvation. The stimuli 
for the sensory nerves of sight and hearing (the 
printed or he spoken word) may, as we well 
know, be couched in Czech, Chinese, Russian, or 
Spanish as well as in English. But we also know that 
it takes years to train the mind to react promptly 
to these stimuli, even in the case of the mother 

66 



METHOD TO BE USED IN TEACHING SPANISH 67 

tongue. But eventually the mind can be trained 
to react to Spanish stimuli — if you will — and to 
send out over the motor nerves those commands 
and reflex actions that will result in expression in 
Spanish, in writing or in speech. Then is the Spanish 
mind created ; thus is the feeling for Spanish aroused. 
This is "la posesion efectiva de la lengua". We can 
and must appeal to all sides of that complex and 
impressionable thing known as a young person's 
mind. And once a pupil is trained to use the lan- 
guage in these various modes it will become a part 
of his mental life and he will have acquired a basis 
for any future use of it. But let no one say that the 
training thus sought is a short or easy process. 
The stimuli must be presented again and again 
unwearyingly ; reactions must be directed, checked 
up, and repeated unceasingly. 

What does the practice of this principle of varied 
sense appeal exact of the teacher of Spanish? 
It demands originality, resourcefulness, ability to 
improvise. Doing things in the same old way is 
the line of least resistance but not the line of greatest 
effectiveness. Ruts must be abandoned and new 
highways laid out. But meandering, blind trails 
are no better than ruts. Design, preparation, and 
careful thought are necessary in making a path of 
progress. That is, good judgment is the next 
requisite of the teacher in appealing to the different 
senses and in getting the different reactions. But 
originality (or resourcefulness) and good judgment 
will still come short of effectiveness unless enthusiasm 
and forcefulness are ever compelling the teacher of 



68 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Spanish onward. Forcefulness, good judgment, and 
resourcefulness will win the day. 

What shall we call the method that would train, 
as outlined, the various senses involved in learning a 
language ? Would it not be the eclectic method, if 
name it we must, the method that takes good things 
wherever they are found, be they heralded by the 
direct method advocates, or cherished by grammar 
enthusiasts, or promulgated by those who would 
make ability to read the Ultima Thule of language 
study ? But this eclectic method should not be 
allowed to run riot. Every step of procedure should 
have a definite, thought-out purpose in view. We 
should realize that the so-called direct method in 
its insistence upon much oral work has a strong 
claim for a large place in the classes of young be- 
ginners, and in Junior High School classes the ear 
and the tongue should doubtless be trained more than 
the eye. But let us not at any point in the High 
Schools, Junior or Senior, exaggerate the importance 
of oral practice. An American teacher who cannot 
use the direct method and a native who can use no 
other are alike hopeless. Again, inductive proc- 
esses in teaching grammar are, it is true, usually the 
most effective and make the best impression on the 
young mind. If the child by inductive processes 
discovers the truth, partly at least, for himself, his 
acceptance of that truth will be more complete and 
vital. But we should bear in mind that he often 
accepts facts as he finds them and that for him the 
statement of fact made by an older person is often 
sufficient. He does not usually reason from the 



METHOD TO BE USED IN TEACHING SPANISH 69 

particular to the general. So it is conceivable that 
there are times when a deductive presentation of 
grammar is preferable. A clear-cut, concise deduc- 
tive process is often more effective than a round- 
about inductive method. Likewise formal or set 
translation, so totally rejected by some, has its due 
place, though beyond doubt a minor place, in our 
scheme of things, and then only late in the course in 
Spanish. 

The eclectic method, while making much of oral 
practice in the form of question and answer in 
Spanish, oral reproduction of anecdotes, oral repeti- 
tion of passages memorized, and so forth, will not 
neglect other types of sense appeal at any stage of 
progress. It is true beyond peradventure that for 
90 per cent of the students of foreign languages 
(except Spanish) in the United States, the summum 
bonum is the ability to read and write the language 
studied. And one might safely hazard the guess 
that for at least 70 per cent of the students of Spanish 
— a language the speaking knowledge of which is 
doubtless of more practical value to North Americans 
than that of any other foreign tongue — the same is 
true. Why, then, give oral drill at all to such stu- 
dents as will have no need to speak Spanish ? For 
this reason : experience has shown that oral practice 
(not mere rambling attempts at conversation) with 
its coincident aural training gives ability to read 
aloud or silently, but usually understanding^, with- 
out translation into English. To go back to our 
previous discussion, the stimuli presented to the 
brain and the reactions thereupon that are involved 



70 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

in much reading aloud and in much hearing of 
others' reading aloud create in time such quickened 
reaction to Spanish that the pupil really begins 
to think in Spanish. Of oral practice it must also 
be said that it greatly enlivens interest. 

The eclectic method is, in a fashion, a misnomer, a 
self-contradictory term, for it is built on the hypoth- 
esis that there is no one best method. As President 
G. Stanley Hall says : The ideal for the teacher to 
strive toward is to know all methods enough to use 
the best elements of them all by turns, but to resist 
extremists who insist that there is only one best 
way and who would tie them down to any inexorable 
and exclusive method, although an enthusiast in 
any does often accomplish marvels. Professor 
Bagster-Collins writes : Some of us are too prone to 
believe that we have at last struck upon the right 
way of teaching modern languages, but another 
generation may think differently. 1 From Melanch- 
thon to Vietor, from Comenius to Gouin, the wheel 
of methods has revolved, its revolutions bringing 
into prevalence at the top of the wheel now this 
and now that theory as to the best way of teaching 
foreign languages. There seems to be very little 
that can now really be called new in methods of 
instruction in languages. And for progress in this 
field in the future shall we not have to look to the 
laboratory of the experimental psychologist where 
may be investigated and checked up scientifically 
our multitudinous theories and our empiric practices ? 

1 Bulletin of the New England Modern Language Associa- 
tion, May, 1916; p. 42. 



METHOD TO BE USED IN TEACHING SPANISH 71 

The three elements of most importance that 
determine the methods to be used in teaching a 
language seem to be : 

(1) the ideals, national and local, that prevail, 
marking the general trend of education ; 

(2) the characteristics of the individual teacher; 
and 

(3) the type of pupil. 

When a nation has a great foreign commerce and 
close intercourse with several nations of different 
tongues, a national point of view in regard to learn- 
ing and teaching languages will prevail which will be 
entirely different from the viewpoint in another na- 
tion that economically is largely self-sufficient and 
but slightly interested in international affairs. A 
teacher of dominant personality may be extraordina- 
rily successful with some certain method whereas an 
unassertive, mild-mannered teacher may make a 
hopeless failure of that same method. The person- 
ality, training, physique, and philosophy of life of the 
teacher are elements inevitably affecting the success 
of the method used. Then the type of pupil : lan- 
guage teachers seem invariably to complain, for in- 
stance, of the inferior ability in languages of students 
in commercial schools and commercial courses as 
compared with those in the academic or college pre- 
paratory courses. And there seems to be just reason 
for this complaint. It is needless to multiply exam- 
ples to show the variation in ability of various 
groups of students due to differences in age, previous 
preparation, temperament, life plans, and so forth. 



72 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

In view of the countless combinations made 
possible by at least the three factors mentioned, 
each one of which is itself a variable, it would indeed 
seem bold to proclaim that any one method yet 
devised is the best method to be followed in all 
cases. 

In the last analysis, then, the successful teacher of 
Spanish will be the one who has received training 
similar to that above described, who realizes that 
a language is a habit-forming and not a fact subject, 
who perceives that appeal must be made to all the 
senses and faculties involved in learning a language, 
and who, because he knows that varying conditions 
require appropriately varying treatment, studies 
national and local needs as regards Spanish, analyzes 
his own strong and weak points and those of his 
pupils, collectively and individually, and then 
evolves his own method, which he applies with 
enthusiasm, resourcefulness, and good judgment. In 
other words, his is the eclectic or selective method 
applied to accomplish the aim we have previously 
set in the teaching of Spanish. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE COURSE OF STUDY IN SPANISH FOR THE JUNIOR 
HIGH SCHOOL AND METHODS OF TEACHING IT 

The aim in teaching Spanish in the Junior High 
School should be that stated in Chapter V. But the 
accomplishment of that aim will be sought in a 
manner somewhat different from that employed in 
the Senior High School or in the ordinary four-year 
High School. 

At least two of the chief characteristics of the 
Junior High School that determine some modifica- 
tion of the methods that would be used in the ordi- 
nary High School are : 

(i) Younger children — twelve to fourteen years 
of age. This means that minds more impressionable 
and plastic are to be dealt with. More memory 
work, less appeal to the reasoning powers, shorter 
recitation periods, shorter lessons, less home work, 
more oral work, are all in place. 

(2) An earlier presentation than was offered in the 
old system of opportunities to study new subjects. 
This means greater interest of pupils in the work of 
their seventh, eighth, and ninth years of school life. 
Under the old plan, a pupil often tired of studying 
arithmetic and geography, spelling, history, and 

73 



74 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

grammar, for the better part of eight years. He may 
not realize that in taking up bookkeeping in the 
Junior High School he is continuing his arithmetic, 
nor that general science is his old friend nature 
study in disguise, that English is another name for 
reading, composition, and grammar. At any rate, 
new studies (or old studies under new names), new 
kinds of books, new sets of teachers who are all 
specialists, in short, the Junior High School organized 
as we have previously indicated, awakens in the pupil 
a new interest in school work. And when he is given 
an opportunity to learn Spanish his interest is 
most keen. Life is offering him new and, perhaps, 
unexpected advantages which he longs to seize. 
Now he may learn to " talk with Spaniards and 
Mexicans", as he will naively put it. Great, 
then, is the opportunity of the teacher of Spanish in 
the presence of this attitude of the young pupil. 

These two factors must be considered, of course, 
in fashioning the course of study for the Junior 
High School. Bearing them in mind, let us proceed 
to mark out here a three-year general syllabus for 
such a school with suggestions for teaching it. It 
will be assumed that the student elects Spanish, 
that it is the first foreign language he has studied, 
that the course is planned for academic and com- 
mercial students alike, and that these three years of 
Spanish are to be followed by three years more in 
the ordinary High School or in the Senior High 
School. 



course of study for junior high schools 75 

First Year 

Pronunciation 

That of Castile will be taught and for the follow- 
ing reasons: (1) Western World pronunciation of 
Spanish has no single standard or norm — that of 
Cuba differs from that of Argentina or that of 
Mexico, and so on. No one can say definitely 
what South American pronunciation of Spanish 
is. (2) The Castilian pronunciation is recognized 
even in Spanish America as providing a clear, 
satisfactory standard. One who uses this pronun- 
ciation, the mark of an educated speaker of Spanish, 
is immediately understood and respected therefor. 
(3) Castilian is more nearly phonetic than South 
American Spanish. This is a point of great impor- 
tance in the acquirement of correct spelling ability, 
as, for instance, in the mastery of the orthographical- 
changing verbs — for example, rezar, veneer, etc. 
Possible confusion of meanings is avoided in the case 
of words of different meanings which in South Amer- 
ica are pronounced alike but differently in Castile 
(cf. cazar, casar; cocer, coser). (4) One speaking 
Castilian, the standard, can, by very little practice, 
adopt the mode of speech of that South American 
country in which he may happen to be, should he 
desire to do so. Likewise, a very little experience 
in hearing the language there will put him in a 
condition to understand perfectly what he hears. 
One accustomed to speak and understand Spanish 
gives no more than passing notice to any peculiarities 



76 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

in the manner of speaking of the person with whom he 
is conversing. 

Much care and more drill are necessary in teaching 
pronunciation. " Go slowly " is here a good motto. 
A correct and ready pronunciation of Spanish is not 
easily acquired. It is true that Spanish has not 
so many sounds radically differing from those in 
English as has French. But there are several that 
will need careful attention, such as inter-vocalic and 
final dy the b and the v> the // and the n 9 the final 
j, the jota> the semi-consonant i> open and close 
e and o. These especially will need careful explana- 
tion as to the manner of production by the vocal 
organs and plenty of drill should be given on them. 
Emphasis should be placed on the Spanish sounds 
that differ from those in English rather than upon 
the sounds similar in the two languages. The three 
simple rules for the stressing of Spanish words should 
be taught by induction. Drill in pronunciation will 
necessarily involve drill in syllabic accentuation. A 
given sound should be taught first in a word or 
phrase, taken preferably from the vocabulary of the 
class room, and then, if need be, singled out for 
careful practice. A word or phrase should be pro- 
nounced distinctly several times by the teacher before 
the class sees it on the board or in print. Individuals 
and then the class should repeat. Thus will be 
formed first the auditory image of the expression. 
In these days of education based more and more on 
appeals to the eye, the necessity of building up 
auditory images, especially in teaching living lan- 
guages, must be insisted upon. One prominent 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 77 

phase of the all-round training in the foreign language 
which we have previously set as our ideal is the 
development of ability to understand by hearing. 
Presentation of a word or phrase first through the 
ear will, if steadily practiced, strengthen greatly 
the power of aural perception. The visual image 
of the word should be secondary, especially with 
young children in the early stages of the study of a 
language. 

The child's imitative powers are at their height 
in the Junior High School period and his organs of 
speech may now be trained in enduring habits of 
correct articulation and enunciation. Hence the 
necessity of much correct repetition of sounds in 
words, short phrases, and breath groups. But 
blind imitation of the teacher by the pupil will 
usually not be sufficient, even with young children, 
Careful, lucid explanations by the teacher of how the 
vocal organs are placed in forming a given sound, the 
use of a mirror in the hands of the pupil to help 
him see how to place his vocal organs in imitation 
of the teacher, sketches of the positions of the vocal 
organs, the use of a vowel chart — in short, practical 
phonetics to aid in every possible way the production 
of correct Spanish sounds should be constantly 
brought into use. Of course the terminology of the 
phonetician is utterly out of place in the class, as 
are also, in Spanish, the symbols of phonetic tran- 
scription. 

The next step is automatization of pronunciation. 
This is accomplished by drill, and the basis of drill is 
repetition. Individual and concert repetition of 



78 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

sound groups should be practiced at regular intervals. 
The first five minutes of each period for the first half 
year can profitably be spent in lively repetition in 
concert of a set of sentences read at the previous 
recitation. 

The steps in teaching pronunciation are, then, (i) 
careful model enunciation by the teacher, (2) re- 
production by the pupils of the sound or sounds 
heard, (3) the visual presentation of the word in 
writing, and (4) drill, regular and unceasing, upon 
words and breath groups. 

In this early teaching of pronunciation and, in 
fact, throughout the course, the endeavor should be 
made constantly to associate with the sound of 
words and phrases their sense. Pizarra not only 
affords good practice for the rr but the whole vocable 
should be directly connected in thought with black- 
board. Puerta, silla, mesa, tiza, libro, should be 
presented not only as material for pronunciation 
but the pronunciation of the words should evoke in 
the child's mind pictures of the objects designated. 

Vocabulary by the Series Method 

The first vocabularies taught should be the names 
of the objects of the class room, the material closest 
at hand. Objective material, direct method of 
approach, oral practice, frequent repetition, the 
introduction of verbs (present tense only) in simple 
series a la Gouin, should be used. The series method 
will be most helpful. There should be developed 
two kinds of these series, the unit of connected facts 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 79 

and the unit of connected actions. As examples of 
what is meant, the following will possibly serve : 

Series Unit of Connected Facts (Noun Unit) 

La sala de clase 

Esto es una sala de clase. La sala es grande y comoda. 
Tiene seis ventanas y dos puertas. Hay en la sala 
treinta asientos. Las pizarras son negras y las paredes 
son blancas. El techo es muy alto. El suelo es de 
madera. Hay un mapa contra la pared. Es un mapa 
de Espaiia. Sobre la mesa del maestro hay libros, 
papeles, plumas y un tintero. 

Series Unit of Connected Actions (Verbal Unit) 

Escribiendo una carta 

Deseo escribir una carta. Tomo pluma, tinta, papel 
y papel secante. Me siento a la mesa. Meto la pluma 
en la tinta. Escribo el nombre del lugar, Miramontes. 
Aiiado la f echa, a 26 de julio de 1917. Luego pongo : Mi 
querido amigo Juan. A Juan le digo muchas cosas. 
Firmo la carta. La meto en un sobre. Pongo en el la 
direction de mi amigo. Echo la carta en el buzon. 

Series units similar to those given above may be 
planned on such topics as the Spanish class, the 
home, the family, the seasons, the time of day, the 
state of health, meals, going to bed and getting up, 
the city, shopping, calling on a friend, place of 
residence, receiving a letter, the country, animals, 
vegetables, and so forth. Where, the inexperienced 



80 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

teacher of Spanish may ask, shall I get the material 
for this kind of work ? What text book provides 
it ? None, that the author knows of, has as yet 
been published that gives such material in kind 
and amount especially adapted for the Junior High 
School. But there are at least two books that the 
teacher can himself adapt to this kind of work — 
Hall's Poco a Poco (World Book Company) and 
Roberts' First Book in Spanish (E. P. Dutton and 
Company). 

Reading 

About the reading should be centered the greater 
part of the work of the first year. Difficult literary 
material should be taboo. A reader of constructed 
text but written in the best, though simple, Spanish 
should be used. The reading lesson is probably 
the best test of a teacher's ingenuity in methods and 
devices. These are some of the ways in which a 
simple beginning reader in Spanish should be used : 
The teacher reads aloud a short passage while the 
class listens with books closed, then again with books 
open. The individual pupil reads aloud the same 
passage. Then the entire class reads the passage 
aloud while the teacher listens closely for incorrect 
pronunciation as the conductor of an orchestra 
listens for false notes. No translation should be 
practiced, except possibly by the teacher of a word 
or phrase here and there whose meaning is most 
quickly clarified by recourse to English. 

Question and answer in Spanish between teacher 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 8 1 

and pupil or pupil and pupil about the paragraph 
read are in place. Questions should always be 
answered in complete sentences. Special attention 
should be paid to the correct verb form in both 
question and answer. It is sometimes well to require 
the pupil to repeat the question before answering 
it in Spanish. The questioning may at times be 
gradually transferred from the incident or situation 
in the passage read to situations and incidents in 
the pupil's daily life or experience. The passage 
read may be manipulated by having it reread 
or rewritten with changes in person and number 
(and later in the tense) of the verbs. A passage 
read on a previous day may be used for dictation 
and later a paragraph not yet read may be used for 
that purpose. Oral summaries of a paragraph or short 
page may be made in Spanish by the pupils after the 
teacher has shown by example how to do this. Occa- 
sionally the summary may be made in English with 
books closed. Or it may be given in writing in English 
or Spanish, these written summaries being prepared 
in class or at home with books closed or open. This 
summarizing may be developed, when first practiced, 
by skillful questioning by the teacher. 

A paragraph may be memorized after being read 
aloud first by the teacher and then by the class, 
and this memory work may be reproduced later 
both orally and in writing. Oral translation from 
oral reading may be occasionally practiced. The 
teacher reads to the class, whose books are closed, 
the Spanish text, one sentence at a time, selecting 
after each sentence a member of the class to give 



$2 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

the thought in English. Care is taken that this 
should not be a word-for-word translation. This 
work is done first only with matter already studied ; 
later, new matter may be used, preferably that of the 
next lesson which has not yet been prepared. 

Explanations of grammatical points that may come 
up in the reading should be as clear and simple as 
possible. But better than much explanation is much 
practice on these points, if the time has arrived for 
thus emphasizing the point in question. Anecdotes 
and incidents of the reading may be dramatized. It 
will be found that the children will take great 
delight in preparing little plays based on their read- 
ing for presentation before the class. Committees 
may be appointed to " put on " a play at a future 
date based on such and such a story or incident. 
When a pupil reads aloud attention will be centered 
upon his pronunciation and his whole recitation by 
having him stand before the class. Incidentally this 
will afford the teacher a good opportunity to inspect 
the reading book for possible interlinear literary 
efforts. 

Grammar 

No attempt should be made in the first year to 
teach formal grammar. No text book in grammar 
should be given the pupil. And yet " there is a kind 
and degree of organization that will be helpful." 1 
Attention should be centered upon the simpler 

1 A statement by Dr. Walter L. Hervey of the Board of Ex- 
aminers, Department of Education, New York City, in Premier 
Secours, First Aid in Learning French, Suggestions to teachers, 
page 14; Association Press, New York, 191 7. 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 83 

phenomena of the inflection of articles, nouns, 
adjectives, and personal subject pronouns and object 
pronouns. Special drill should be given upon the 
verb, which is the backbone of the language. The 
series work and the reading will offer opportunity for 
this, thus making the presentation of points of 
grammar inductive. Irregular verbs can be taught as 
easily as regular verbs. In fact, no mention need be 
made of the distinctions between regular and irregular 
verbs. In the first year the following tenses of the 
indicative should be well taught : present, preterite, 
imperfect. The subjunctive used as imperative is so 
necessary from the start that practice (but little 
theory) should be given in the formation of the 
present subjunctive for use in commands. The con- 
jugation of verbs should be taught only in a phrase, 
as : voy a la casa, vas a la casa, el, ella o Vd. va a la 
casa y etc. Questions may be dictated or put orally 
for reply in such a way that the answers will bring 
into play certain principles of inflection and syntax. 
Based on the reading, incomplete sentences may be 
given to be completed (with missing prepositions, 
verbs, pronouns, possessives, and so forth). Short 
sentences may be given to be made plural throughout. 
In other words, grammar may be taught without 
once using the word " grammar". Grammar may be 
learned by " doing tricks with the language", by " ma- 
nipulation ". 

Dictation 

One of the most useful exercises for the young 
beginner is to write connected Spanish prose at 



84 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

dictation. This should be of the simplest character 
and taken at first from matter already studied. 
Later the teacher may reshape for dictation pur- 
poses a paragraph or anecdote previously read. It 
should be borne in mind that the two chief objects 
of dictation are (i) to train and test for correct 
hearing of the passage read and (2) to train in 
spelling ability. Though Spanish is more nearly a 
" phonetic language " than any other modern 
tongue (and therefore phonetic transcription of it 
is absolutely unnecessary), dictation in Spanish 
nevertheless provides that training first mentioned — 
correct hearing. And, as we have already remarked, 
Spanish is a difficult language to " catch with the 
ear ". Dictation should have an ample place in the 
work set for the beginner. 

Gradually the teacher may introduce into the dic- 
tation material before unseen. By the end of 
the second year the pupil should be able to write 
correctly, though he may not always understand, 
almost any paragraph of simple prose. As a device 
to aid in correcting dictation, one pupil may be sent to 
the board in the rear of the room. When the para- 
graph has been written, pupils may exchange papers, 
the teacher will correct the passage on the board and 
the class will turn and compare with the board 
work the papers they then have in hand. In giving 
dictation, especially of entirely new or reshaped 
material, the teacher should, of course, read through 
the entire paragraph first, the pupils listening but 
not writing. At the second reading the pupils will 
write and the teacher will divide the sentences into 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 85 

the connected thought groups found in the com- 
ponent phrases and clauses. No phrase should be 
reread at this time. One final rereading should be 
given by the teacher after the last sentence has been 
taken down. Correction by the pupils, after the ex- 
change of papers, may consist merely in underscoring 
a word containing an error of any kind. Dictation 
papers may be rewritten correctly and filed with the 
teacher, who may use them for redictation. 

Pronunciation, vocabulary presented in series 
units, reading, informal grammar, and dictation 
may all have their basis in a reader or first book 
similar to the Hall or Roberts books mentioned or 
in a reader of the type of Harrison's Elementary 
Spanish Reader (Ginn and Company), Espinosa's 
Elementary Spanish Reader (Benj. H. Sanborn and 
Co.), or Roessler and Remy's First Spanish Reader 
(American Book Company). For the series units, 
possibly the first two mentioned supply the most 
satisfactory kind of matter for the teacher to use 
(the books need not be given to the pupils), while 
any one of the last three books named may be used 
as the basis for all the other work suggested and 
should be in the hands of the pupils. Some, how- 
ever, will wish to use the Hall or Roberts book and 
have the pupils supplied with it as the only book 
used by the class. 

The amount read in the first year will not be large, 
probably not over 75 pages, for much working over 
of the material in the several ways mentioned will 
be necessary — dictation, disguised grammar lessons, 
and so forth. 



86 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Additional Helps 

Under this heading we may mention illustrative 
material, such as : wall maps of Spain and Spanish- 
American lands, wall pictures of scenes from every- 
day life and with a Spanish atmosphere, wall charts 
showing verb endings, positions and forms of the 
subject and object pronouns, placards with proverbs 
for memorizing ; re alia of Spain and Spanish America ; 
a Spanish club or clubs. These aids will be discussed 
in detail later. 

Second Year 

Pronunciation 

Drill in pronunciation should be continued with 
the short sentence as the unit of practice. This will 
provide opportunity for the development of the 
proper intonation of Spanish sentences — a phase 
of work to which too little attention is given and 
which is acquired best in childhood when the 
imitative powers are most active. A sentence may 
be pronounced correctly as regards the sounds of its 
component syllables and yet be unintelligible to the 
native speaker of Spanish. A certain delicacy of 
enunciation and intonation exists in Spanish which 
is very difficult for the English-speaking person to 
acquire. Rapid-fire concert repetition of model 
sentences, in imitation of the teacher, should be 
practiced during the first five or ten minutes of each 
period. The use of practical phonetics should be 
continued as necessary. 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 87 

Vocabulary 

The series method of vocabulary development may 
be laid aside. The reading will provide the teacher 
with opportunities for grouping words according to 
the simpler associations (1) of similarity of meaning 
{contestar, responder, replicar), (2) of contrast in 
meaning {cere a, lejos; rico, pobre ; preguntar, con- 
testar), and (3) of parts of the whole (casa, vent ana, 
puerta, tirador). A device to strengthen these 
associations consists in having a passage reread with 
substitutions made of synonyms or antonyms. Even 
with young children this is possible to a certain 
extent after a few short exercises of this kind have 
been worked out by the teacher with the class, 
illustrating the ways in which words may be asso- 
ciated. 

Reading 

Again must we say that the reading matter 
should not be of difficult literary character. Simple 
stories, anecdotes, traditions, bits of folk-lore, 
well-told recitals in simple Spanish of life and travel 
in Spanish lands, are in place. Needless to say, all 
the reading matter from this point on should be 
distinctly tinged with the local color of Spain, 
Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and so forth. Memory 
passages taken from the reading should be learned. 
Most of these should consist of prose, for no doubt a 
greater appreciation of and feeling for the language 
can be developed by the use of such material than 
by the use of poems. However, occasional memoriz- 



88 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

ing of poetry (such as El Burro Flautista) is pertinent. 
The methods and devices suggested in the outline for 
the first year for treating the reading material are, 
of course, still applicable. The reading will be the 
basis of the second year's work as it was in the first 
year's. The amount read should be about the same 
as that for the first year if the reading is graduated in 
difficulty. 

Grammar 

The grammar work should still be informal, 
incidental, and disguised though nevertheless organ- 
ized and systematic in an increasing degree. No 
formal grammar text should yet be placed in the 
hands of the pupils. The method of accomplishing 
the grammar work suggested is that which consists 
chiefly in substitutions, transpositions, the filling of 
blanks, the writing of original sentences, that is, 
manipulations and reshapings. Stress upon verbs 
should be continued. The future and conditional, 
the perfect and the pluperfect tense of the indicative 
should be introduced and practiced. The gerund 
and the past participle should be mastered. The 
progressive forms of the tenses should be drilled 
upon. The commoner irregular verbs, ser, estar, tener, 
haber> decir, dar, querer, hacer, ir, and poder, should be 
made familiar in the five simple tenses of the indica- 
tive. Reflexive and radical-changing verbs should 
be practiced in the present tense. Drill on the sub- 
junctive as imperative should be continued. Rela- 
tive pronouns and demonstrative and possessive 
adjectives and pronouns should be worked out by 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 89 

induction and practiced in exercises devised by the 
teacher. 

Dictation 

Material for dictation should still be taken 
chiefly from the reading, but toward the end of the 
second year more and more material not before 
studied should be worked into these exercises, until 
the pupil can write readily any simple Spanish that 
is read to him. A variation may now be brought 
into play, namely, the reproduction in writing of 
short anecdotes or paragraphs that were given in 
dictation the preceding day. Brief, snappy dicta- 
tions should be given two or three times a week. 

Oral Practice 

Oral work must be not merely frequent, it should 
be constant. Spanish should become more and 
more the language of the classroom as the vocabulary 
of the pupils grows. But this oral work should never 
be allowed to degenerate into mere talk for the sake 
of talking. There should be a reason, an aim, in 
the teacher's mind, for every step in this as well as 
in other kinds of work done in class. Oral practice 
is directed conversation in Spanish, the controlling 
purposes of which are, first, to "train the ear" in 
hearing aright ; second, to give practice — practice 
in noun inflection, in verb conjugation, in the agree- 
ment of adjectives, the use of prepositions, and so 
forth ; third, to test understanding of what is said 
or written ; fourth, to develop correct pronunciation 
and power of expression in Spanish. The third 



90 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

purpose could, of course, be done as well in English ; 
but if so done it would contribute nothing to the 
accomplishment of the fourth purpose. Incidentally, 
but none the less importantly, oral practice is an 
excellent quickener of attention and interest. 



Third Year 

Pronunciation 

Drill in pronunciation should be chiefly incidental 
to other work in the third year of the course. But 
the unremitting attention of the teacher should make 
certain a correct pronunciation at sight of ordinary 
prose by every member of the class. The proper 
accentuation of words, a comparatively simple 
matter in Spanish, should now be nearly automatic 
with the pupil. Phrase and sentence intonation will 
still need considerable attention. 

Vocabulary 

A steady broadening of the pupil's vocabulary 
should be sought by recourse to the association of 
meanings of words, as previously described, by 
studies of cognates (valle, valley; azul, azure; 
desear, desire, etc.), and by competitions such as 
vocabulary matches in which two leaders " choose 
sides ' as in the old-fashioned spelling bee. In- 
ability to give the Spanish equivalent for the 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 91 

English word eliminates a contestant. The reading 
or the grammar text may be the basis for this. 

Grammar 

For the first time technical grammar is begun, 
the text for this being the simplest available and 
one that incorporates the latest methods in present- 
ing the facts of the Spanish language. The pupil's 
usual horror of aught that bears the label 
" grammar " by now will have been largely banished 
by the previous training he has received more or less 
unwittingly in Spanish grammar. The exercises 
of the text used should be mostly of the kinds 
previously suggested in the outlines of the work of 
the first and second years. There should be little 
attempt at formal translation from English into 
Spanish. Such work belongs more properly to the 
work of the Senior High School or college. Inductive 
methods, memorizing of examples of rules rather 
than of rules themselves, should be observed. 

This grammar work will serve at least three pur- 
poses: (1) It will systemize and summarize 
grammatical points already studied in the first 
two years in connection with the series and reading 
work. (2) It will afford a sort of transition from 
the unreflective, imitative period of language study 
in the Junior High School to the reflective and 
rationalized study of the Senior High School. The 
child, now at least fourteen years of age, is beginning 
to seek the " why " of things, to " think things out ", 
as we say. (3) It will lay the foundation for a 



Q2 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

thorough knowledge of grammar : " that bony struc- 
ture of language which prevents the whole body 
from slumping into invertebrate flabbiness." l 

Among the matters of grammar now studied 
should be : A review and intensification of the 
previous two years of informal grammar, including 
the inflection of adjectives, nouns, and articles, 
pronouns personal and relative, possessive and 
demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, numerals 
cardinal and ordinal, regular verbs in all the tenses 
simple and compound of the indicative, reflexive and 
radical-changing verbs in the present tense, the 
irregular verbs already cited in all the tenses of the 
indicative, and the additional irregular verbs ver, 
venir, salir, saber, poner, oir> and traer in the same 
forms; likewise the orthographical-changing verbs. 
Much drill and practice, oral and written, upon these 
essentials should be the watchword. 

The grammar, from this time forward, should 
occupy a place of importance equal to that held by 
reading. 

Reading 

About one hundred pages of easy prose should be 
read in the third year. Previously suggested 
methods of handling reading matter still apply. 
But at this period should begin a careful and 
systematic study of idiomatic expressions or locu- 
tions. These should be memorized and recast in 

1 A Revised Course Syllabus for a Three-Year High School 
Course in German, by Professor James Taft Hatfield in School 
Review, September, 1915. 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 93 

original sentences. Notebooks should be kept for 
this purpose and frequent reviews of these idioms 
should be made and short tests given upon them. 
The reading should, as in previous years, be rep- 
resentative of Spanish or Spanish-American life 
and customs. Or world-old tales and traditions, 
some of which are already known to the pupils in 
English versions, will be suitable material. Reading 
a tale of this sort is like meeting an old friend after 
a long absence or in a new dress. Anticipation of 
the meaning of a passage aids greatly in the " sens- 
ing ' of the meaning of new words. Selections 
relating in simple language great historical events 
of Spanish lands would supply desirable text. 
General informational articles about Hispanic Amer- 
ica or Spain will provide excellent matter for this 
stage of the reading work. 



Dictation 

This form of aural testing should be continued, 
several minutes being devoted about three times a 
week to this exercise. Easy prose not previously 
seen or heard by the class should be used. 



Self-drill 

The pupil's training and age are now such that he 
may be made to see the importance of self-drill in 
learning Spanish. He may be told, for instance, 
that of the 168 hours in the week in not more than 



94 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

six or seven of them at the most is he learning to 
think in Spanish. In the remaining time he is 
reading, speaking, thinking, or dreaming in English 
(or Yiddish or Italian or what not). Now if he 
would master Spanish he must practice outside 
the schoolroom as much as or more than he does 
in class, where his teacher probably has 35 or 40 
pupils to drill in as many minutes. Unless he 
lives in New York City or in the Southwest or the 
Far West, he will have very little opportunity to 
practice Spanish w th Spanish-speaking people out- 
side of school. He must, then, drill himself. It 
takes years of practice to learn to play the violin 
even passably well. Likewise, to speak Spanish 
well a great amount of practice is necessary. To 
encourage self-drill, the teacher should show his 
pupils how to accomplish it, telling them that it is 
not a difficult matter to do so. The chief requisite 
is " stick-to-it-iveness ". They should read aloud to 
themselves (after they have acquired a good pro- 
nunciation), say the numbers in Spanish which they 
see here and there — on street cars, automobiles, 
street signs, and advertisements, count in Spanish 
their steps as they walk along the street or climb 
stairs, carry on conversations with themselves in 
Spanish about such matters as the weather, the 
time of day, and so forth, say in Spanish phrases 
they see in advertisements, talk Spanish to their 
fellow-students of the language, in fact, try to use 
Spanish in as many ways and as often as possible. 

Little stress, so far as the author knows, seems 
ever to have been placed upon the necessity of self- 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 95 

drill in learning a language, and few teachers give 
to their students instructions as to how to drill 
themselves. The sooner a student is taught to do 
this, the sooner and the more certainly will he begin 
to think in Spanish. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE RELATION OF THIS COURSE OF STUDY TO THAT 
OF THE FOUR-YEAR HIGH SCHOOL AND TO THAT 
OF THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Let us consider now the status of the student who 
will have completed our syllabus for Junior High 
Schools, as given in Chapter VII, with relation, first, 
to the present four-year High School and, second, 
to the three-year Senior High School, which is the 
complement of the three-year Junior High School in 
the reorganized system as ordinarily planned. 

For this purpose let us take what may possibly 
be considered a fairly well planned syllabus of 
minima for the present-day High School. This was 
prepared for the high schools of New York City and 
was first printed in the spring of 1917. 1 It does not 
comprise books that were not presented for adoption 
April 15, 1917, when additions were made to the New 

1 In the Bulletin of High Points in the Teaching of Modern 
Language in the High Schools of New York City, issue of May, 
1917. The committee that prepared the syllabus consisted of: 
L. A. Wilkins, Chairman; E. S. Harrison, Commercial High 
School; Miss Anita Thomas, High School of Commerce; 
Miss Herlinda G. Smithers, Bay Ridge High School; and 
Leon Sinagnan, Stuyvesant High School, 

96 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS 97 

York City list nor, of course, does it comprise books 
that have appeared since that date. From this 
point to the end of the syllabus on page 108 of 
this book the matter is quoted. 



Syllabus of Minima in Spanish 

It is expected that the various departments of Spanish 
will follow these minima as here set in both grammar and 
reading. It will be noted that there is nothing in these 
outlines to prevent a school from doing more than that 
which is here suggested. What has been given is con- 
sidered by the Committee as the barest essentials in each 
term of work. It is presumed in these minima that 
Spanish is being studied as a first foreign language by the 
high school student. 

No particular texts are recommended in grammar. A 
number of different ones are available. The reading lists 
given have been made after very careful consideration 
and are the result, in most cases, of experience with these 
books in the classroom in the term indicated. In the 
reading outlined it may seem desirable in some cases to 
use in the work of some one term a book that has been 
mentioned for use in an immediately previous term. 

All books are arranged in order of their list numbers 
as they appear in the catalogue of textbooks authorized 
for use in the High Schools of New York City. 



THE AIM IN TEACHING SPANISH 

(This is stated in the same manner as on page 65 of 
this book.) 



98 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 



PRELIMINARY POINTS 

It is expected that considerable attention will be given 
in the first term to : 

(i) Pronunciation — that used in Castile. Blind imitation 
of a teacher's pronunciation is often unsatisfactory. The use 
of practical phonetics is strongly advised, such as the use of a 
mirror in the hands of the pupil in helping him to place correctly 
the vocal organs. Much drill should be given, especially on 
sounds differing from English, as, for example, the jota. 

(2) The three rules for accentuation of Spanish words. Drill 
on same. 

(3) Classroom expressions, such as those provided in several 
of the grammars and readers or in the pamphlet, " Classroom 
Spanish ", Solano, D. C. Heath and Company. 



FIRST TERM 
GRAMMAR 

ARTICLES. Forms of definite and undefinite. 

NOUNS. Gender and formation of the plural. 

ADJECTIVES. Agreement, formation of plural, position. 

POSSESSIVES. Adjectives and pronouns. 

DEMONSTRATIVES. Adjectives and pronouns. 

PERSONAL PRONOUNS. Subject, indirect object, direct 
object, prepositional forms. The use of only one object pro- 
noun with the verb. 

VERBS. Regular. Past participle; present, imperfect, 
preterite of the simple tenses; the perfect only among the 
compound tenses. All in the indicative mood. 

Irregular. Past participle ; present, imperfect and preterite of 
the simple tenses and the perfect of the following verbs : ser, estar, 
tener > haber, decir, and dar. The present tense of the verbs : 
querer, hacer, poder, ir, ver. All these in the indicative only. 

IDIOMS. Tener que; tener hambre, sed> calor, frio, miedo. 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS 99 

MISCELLANEOUS. Days of the week; months and 
seasons of the year; cardinal numerals 1 to 100. 

MEMORY WORK 
Ten lines of prose or poetry. 

DICTATION 

Frequent dictation of reading matter previously studied. 

READING 

Suggested : 25 pages selected from the following texts : 
4181 — Harrison: Elementary Spanish Reader, Ginn & 

Co. 
9147 — Roessler & Remy : First Spanish Reader, American 

Book Co. 
1 1256 — Espinosa: Elementary Spanish Reader, Sanborn & 
Co. 

SECOND TERM 

GRAMMAR 

m PERSONAL PRONOUNS. The use of two object pronouns 
with the verb. Much drill on all possibilities. 

RELATIVE PRONOUNS. Forms and uses. 

VERBS. All verbs of the first term to be mastered in all the 
simple and compound tenses of the indicative which have not 
already been mentioned. In addition, orthographical-changing, 
radical-changing, inceptive ending and reflexive verbs ; also the 
irregular verbs, venir y salir, saber, poner, oir, traer — all these 
verbs to be studied in the tenses already indicated in the work 
of the first and second terms. The present participle, and the 
progressive tenses of regular verbs and all irregular verbs thus 
far mentioned to be learned. Simpler uses of the present sub- 
junctive. 



IOO SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

MISCELLANEOUS. Cardinal numerals ioo to iooo. 

MEMORY WORK 

Twenty lines of prose or poetry. 

DICTATION 

Frequent dictation of material previously read. 

READING 

Suggested : 40 pages selected from the following texts : 
4164 — Bransby: A Progressive Spanish Reader, D. C. 

Heath & Co. 
4181 — Harrison: Elementary Spanish Reader. 
9147 — Roessler & Remy : First Spanish Reader, American 

Book Co. 
11254 — Berge-Soler & Hathaway: Elementary Spanish- 
American Reader, Sanborn & Co. 
1 1 256 — Espinosa: Elementary Spanish Reader, Sanborn & 

Co. 
1 1 259 — Harrison : Intermediate Spanish Reader, Ginn & Co. 

THIRD TERM 

GRAMMAR 

VERBS. The subjunctive mood; present, imperfect (two 
forms), perfect and pluperfect (two forms) of all verbs in items 
in terms 1 and 2. The use of the subjunctive in main clauses and 
in subordinate clauses. Conditional sentences contrary to fact in 
present and past time. The imperative mood; the subjunctive 
used as imperative and the real imperative. All irregular verbs 
in indicative and subjunctive, simple and compound tenses. 

MISCELLANEOUS. Cardinal numerals to 1,000,000; ordi- 
nals to 1 2th. 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS IOI 

MEMORY WORK 

Thirty to forty lines of prose or poetry. 



DICTATION 

Dictation at least twice a week of material previously studied 
and, later in the term, of simple material not seen before. 



COMPOSITION 

It may be desired in some schools to begin here the compo- 
sition work outlined in the fourth term. 



READING 

Suggested : 75 pages selected from the following texts : 
4170 — DeHaan & Morrison: Cuentos Modernos, D. C. 

Heath & Co. 
4178 — Giese & Cool: Spanish Anecdotes, D. C. Heath & 

Co. 
4184 — Hills: Spanish Tales for Beginners, Henrv Holt & 

Co. 
4188 — Johnson : Cuentos Modernos, American Book Co. 
9139 — Escrich : Fortuna, Ginn & Co. 
9148 — Taboada: Cuentos Alegres, D. C. Heath & Co. 
1 1254 — Berge-Soler & Hathaway: Elementary Spanish- 
American Reader, Sanborn & Co. 
1 1 260 — Luquiens : Elementary Spanish-American Reader, 

The Macmillan Co. 
1 1 273 — Wilkins & Luria : Lecturas Faciles, Silver, Burdett & 
Co. 



102 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 



FOURTH TERM 
GRAMMAR 

Review of the essentials of Spanish grammar with particular 
attention to radical-changing, orthographical-changing and irreg- 
ular verbs. Much drill on the subjunctive and upon personal 
pronouns. 

MEMORY WORK 
Parts of plays and entire short poems. 

DICTATION 

Frequent dictation of material not previously studied. 

COMPOSITION 

Suggested : About twelve or fifteen lessons from one of the 
following texts : 

4201 — Umphrey : Spanish Prose Composition, American 

Book Co. 
8220 — Crawford : Spanish Composition, Henry Holt & Co. 
1 1 272 — Wilkins: Elementary Spanish Prose Book, Sanborn 
& Co. 

READING 

Suggested: 80 pages from the following texts: 

4161 — Alarcon : El Capitan Veneno, D. C. Heath & Co. 

4162 — Alarcon : Novelas Cortas Escogidas, D. C. Heath & 
Co. 

4165 — Caballero: La Familia de Alvareda, Henry Holt & 

Co. 
4200 — Turrell : A Spanish Reader for Beginners, American 

Book Co. 
8218 — Alarcon : El Capitan Veneno, American Book Co. 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS 103 

8225 — Morrison : Tres Comedias Modernas, Henry Holt 

&Co. 
8231 — Selgas: La Mariposa Blanca (except chapter I), 

Henry Holt & Co. 

9136 — Alarcon: Novelas Cortas, Ginn & Co. 

9137 — Asensi: Victoria y Otros Cuentos, D. C. Heath & 
Co. 

9143 — Downer & Elias : Lecturas Modernas, D. C. Heath 

&Co. 
11258 — Isla: Gil Bias, D. C. Heath & Co. 
1 1260 — Luquiens: Elementary Spanish- American Reader, 

Macmillan Company. 
1 1273 — Wilkins & Luria: Lecturas Faciles, Silver, Burdett 

&Co. 



FIFTH TERM 

It is suggested that no differentiation allowing for commercial 
work in Spanish be made until in the fifth term. From this 
point on the reading and the composition have been divided into 
(a) literary and (b) commercial and practical. 

GRAMMAR 

Review of material covered in previous terms. A text to 
be given out for reference work. 



MEMORY WORK 

Parts of the drama read or poems of moderate length from 
standard poets. 

DICTATION 

Letters, social and commercial, material that is new to the 
class. This work may most profitably be done in connection 
with composition. 



104 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

COMPOSITION 

A. Literary. Continuation of the book already studied in 
fourth term work. Amount to be about one-third more than 
that covered in the fourth term. 

B. Commercial and practical. Careful study of some twenty 
or twenty-five letters taken from the following texts, with exer- 
cises based thereon. 

4179 — Graham & Oliver: Spanish Commercial Practice, 
Part I, The Macmillan Company. 

4182 — Harrison: Spanish Correspondence, Henry Holt & 

Co. 
11271 — Whittem & Andrade: Spanish Commercial Corre- 
spondence, D. C. Heath & Co. 



READING 

Suggested : 100 pages from the following texts : 

A. Literary. 

4167 — Carrion- Aza: Zaragiieta, Silver, Burdett & Co, 

4180 — Gutierrez: El Trovador, D. C. Heath & Co. 

4183 — Hills & Morley: Modern Spanish Lyrics, Henry 

Holt & Co. (ten poems). 
4186 — Hills & Reinhardt: Spanish Short Stories, D. C. 

Heath & Co. 
4195 — Mesonero Romanos : Selections, Henry Holt & Co. 

4202 — Valdes : Jose, D. C. Heath & Co. 

4203 — Valdes : La Hermana San Sulpicio, Henry Holt & 
Co. 

1 1 25 5 — Alarcon : El Sombrero de Tres Picos, D. C. Heath & 
Co. 

B. Commercial and Practical. 

4163 — Bonilla: Spanish Daily Life, Newson & Co. 
8224 — Harrison : A Spanish Commercial Reader, Ginn & 
Co. 

Magazines and newspapers in Spanish. 
Spanish Edition of the Bulletin of the Pan American 
Union. 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS 105 



SIXTH TERM 

GRAMMAR 

A review as needed, especially of syntax. Text to be in 
the hands of students as a reference book. 

COMPOSITION 

A. Literary. The continuation of the book begun in the 
fourth term or the study of a second one of those books there 
suggested. Amount to be about the same as that of the fifth 
term. 

B. Commercial and Practical. The continuation of the book 
begun in the fifth term. Amount to be covered to be about 
one-third more than that of the fifth term. Or 

9152 — Waxman : A Trip to South America, D. C. Heath & 

Co. 
1 1 270 — Warshaw: Spanish-American Composition Book, 
Henry Holt and Co. 

READING 

Suggested : about 150 pages from the following texts : 

A. Literary. 

4183 — Hills & Morley: Modern Spanish Lyrics, Henry 

Holt & Co. (ten poems). 
4189 — Blasco Ibafiez: La Barraca, Henry Holt & Co. 
4194 — Moratin: El Si de las Ninas, American Book Co. 
9142 — Galdos : Marianela, D. C. Heath & Co. 
1 1 261 — Valdes : La Alegria del Capitan Ribot, D. C. Heath 

& Co. 

B. Commercial and Practical. 

4163 — Bonilla: Spanish Daily Life, Newson & Co. 

8224 — Harrison : A Spanish Commercial Reader, Ginn & 

Co. 
1 1269 — Supple : Spanish Reader of South American History, 
The Macmillan Company. 
Spanish magazines and newspapers. 



106 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

SEVENTH TERM 

GRAMMAR 
Text to be given out as reference and for review. 

COMPOSITION 

A. Literary. Frequent summaries in Spanish of novels read 
in class; original compositions on assigned topics. 

B. Commercial and Practical. Amount covered to be about 
the same as that in the sixth term. 

4179 — Graham & Oliver: Spanish Commercial Practice, 

Part II, The Macmillan Co. 
8229 — Pitman : Spanish Commercial Correspondence, 

Isaac Pitman & Co. 
Original answers in Spanish by students to Spanish 

letters dictated by the teacher. 

READING 

Suggested : * 100 pages in class with outside required reading 
of from 80 to 100 pages, taken from the following texts : 

A. Literary. 

4171 — Galdos: Dona Perfecta, American Book Co. 

8228 — Pardo Bazan : Pascual Lopez, Ginn & Co. 

9146 — Quintero: Dona Clarines, D. C. Heath & Co. 
1 1253 — Becquer: Legends, Tales and Poems, Ginn & Co. 
1 1 264 — Pereda: Pedro Sanchez, Ginn & Co. 
1 1 275 — Gil y Zarate: Guzman el Bueno, Ginn & Co. 

1 Of the books named, those not selected for class reading 
may be used for outside reading. Better still, books suggested 
for use in the term immediately previous will afford excellent 
material for outside reading. 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS 107 

B. Commercial and Practical. 

1 1 262 — Morse: Spanish- American Life, Scott, Foresman & 

Co. 

1 1 263 — Nelson: Spanish-American Reader, D. C. Heath & 

Co. 

EIGHTH TERM 
GRAMMAR 

Text to be given iout for reference and review. 

COMPOSITION 

A. Literary. Summaries and reports, all in Spanish, of 
outside reading; original compositions on assigned topics. 

B. Commercial and Practical. 

4179 — Graham & Oliver: Spanish Commercial Practice, 

Part II, The Macmillan Co. 
8229 — Pitman : Spanish Commercial Correspondence, Isaac 

Pitman & Co. 
1 1265 — Macdonald : Manual of Spanish Commercial Cor- 
respondence, Isaac Pitman & Co. 
Original Spanish letters by students in answer to 
letters and advertisements dictated by the instruc- 
tor. 

READING 

Suggested: 1 125 pages in class with outside required reading 
of 100 pages taken from the following texts : 

A. Literary. 
4166 — Calderon : La Vida es Sueno, American Book Co. 
4204 — Valera : El Comendador Mendoza, American Book 

Co. 
8219 — Cervantes : Don Quijote (Selections), D. C. Heath 

&Co. 

1 See note concerning reading for the seventh term. 



108 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

B. Commercial and Practical. 

4198 — Quintana : Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Ginn & Co. 
9145 — Pitman : Spanish Commercial Reader, Isaac Pit- 
man & Sons. 
1 1 262 — Morse: Spanish-American Life, Scott, Foresman & 

Co. 
1 1 263 — Nelson: Spanish- American Reader, D. C. Heath & 
Co. 

NOTES 

Dictionaries recommended : 
4206 — Cuyas : Spanish Dictionary, D. Appleton & Co. 

Direct method books available : 

8222 — Hall : All Spanish Method, First Book, World Book 

Co. 

8223 — Hall : All Spanish Method, Second Book, World 

Book Co. 
8230 — Roberts : First Spanish Book, E. P. Dutton & Co. 
9144 — Marion and Des Garennes : Introduccion a la Lengua 

Castellana, D. C. Heath & Co. 

Grammars and beginning books available and recommended : 
4161 — Coester : Spanish Grammar, Ginn & Co. 
4171 — Dowling: Reading, Writing and Speaking Spanish, 

American Book Co. 
4185 — Hills and Ford : Spanish Grammar, D. C. Heath & Co. 
8226 — Olmsted and Gordon : Abridged Spanish Grammar, 

Henry Holt & Co. 
9138 — DeVitis: A Spanish Grammar for Beginners, Allyn 

& Bacon. 
9140 — Espinosa and Allen : Elementary Spanish Grammar, 

American Book Co. 
9151 — Wagner : Spanish Grammar, Geo. Wahr & Co., Ann 

Arbor, Mich. 
1 1257 — Fuentes and Francois: A Practical Spanish Grammar, 

The Macmillan Co. 
1 1 266-7-8 — Sinagnan : Foundation Course in Spanish, 

Parts I, II, and III, The Macmillan Co. 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS 109 

It will be seen by comparing the work we have 
suggested for the pupil of the Junior High School 
with the syllabus above given that our Junior High 
School pupil will have completed in his three years 
practically the same amount of grammar as that 
set for the first three terms — one year and a half 
— in the above quoted syllabus. But the Junior 
High School student will have read approximately 
100 more pages of Spanish in his three years of study 
than the student of the ordinary High School will 
have read in his three terms of work. It will not 
be desirable or possible, however, to assign the 
Junior High School pupil to a class more advanced 
than that of the fourth term (second half of the 
second year) in the ordinary High School. The 
reading work and the grammar drill of this term 
will provide the most satisfactory articulation with 
and continuation of his present knowledge of Spanish. 
It may seem that insufficient credit is thus allowed 
for the lower school work, but it must be remembered 
(1) that the pupil began the language at an age when 
progress had to be slower than in beginning classes 
in the ordinary High School, and (2) that, as com- 
pared with the progress made by the student in the 
first three terms of the ordinary high school course 
in Spanish, this slower progress has been compen- 
sated for by a more thoroughly assimilated knowl- 
edge of the language, a better developed ability to 
understand the spoken language, a more facile oral 
ability, and, presumably, a greater liking for lan- 
guage study, for one of the tenets of the Junior 
High School is the adaptation of the course to the 



HO SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

needs and likings of the pupil, and, moreover, the 
kind of training given him will have fostered and 
promoted a liking for Spanish. 

From this point on, the superior orientation, 
receptivity, and drill given the Junior High School 
student will enable him to gather greater momentum 
than can his fellow student of this fourth term class 
who began Spanish in the first term of the ordinary 
High School. In the three years which he will 
pass in the higher school, there will be left for him 
but five terms, two and a half years, of the four- 
year course in Spanish. It is more than likely that 
before those two and a half years have passed he 
will secure advanced standing for a half year of work 
and thus be able to complete, one year before finish- 
ing the upper school, four years of Spanish as out- 
lined, for example, in the syllabus above given. 
This will leave him time for more work in other 
modern languages or Latin, one of which languages 
he will have begun as his second foreign language 
on entering the upper school. 

But we must bear in mind that the above-described 
awkward articulation of the Junior High School 
and the present four-year school is not the one con- 
templated in the reorganization of our secondary 
school system. The logical, psychological, and ped- 
agogical complement of the three-year Junior High 
School is the three-year Senior High School, between 
which two schools articulation is close and perfect. 
The Senior High School course in Spanish should, 
according to the standard adopted in our preceding 
discussion, begin approximately with the work 



RELATION OF THIS COURSE TO OTHERS III 

outlined for the fourth term of the syllabus quoted. 
That is, to the five terms of work remaining in the 
ordinary High School above the first three terms, 
which are eliminated as suitable for the Junior 
High School, must be added one term of work to 
provide for six years of Spanish — our hypothesis 
— in the secondary school period of six years. This 
may be effected by merely adding a syllabus for a 
final half year, but the better continuity, harmony, 
and articulation of the six-year curriculum will 
doubtless require enrichment of the four-and-a-half 
year course (according to present standards) thus 
formed. Wider reading, especially outside reading 
for reports, more free composition, and, in the final 
year, an intensive review and study of Spanish 
grammar from the standpoint of such a text as 
Ramsey's Spanish Grammar, are advisable. 

It will be noted that in the above syllabus the 
recommendation is made that no differentiation 
of course allowing for commercial Spanish be made 
until the fifth term (or the beginning of the third 
year). It would seem advisable in the Senior 
High School course to allow for this differentiation 
not until the fourth term (end of the second half of 
the second year of the Senior High School course) 
which would be the seventh term in the above syl- 
labus. An elective may then be offered of com- 
mercial Spanish for those desiring such training, 
and they should be placed in classes separate from 
those who continue the ordinary academic course 
in the language. 

Further than to make the above suggestions, it 



112 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

is not intended to discuss in this book the syllabus 
for the Senior High School. But it will be noted 
that we have available in this volume a syllabus 
for the Junior High School with suggestions as to 
methods of teaching it, a syllabus for the ordinary 
High School prepared by a committee of experienced 
high school teachers, and, finally, suggestions for 
the syllabus in the Senior High School, which school 
is, as yet, even less completely organized (as a sep- 
arate school) than is the Junior High School. 

It is believed that the methods that have already 
been suggested for the Junior High School, and those 
that are given in subsequent chapters will be found 
almost, if not quite, as pertinent and useful for the 
four-year High School or for the Senior High School. 



CHAPTER IX 

t 

THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 

A. The classroom 

The classroom or rooms (properly equipped, 
lighted, and ventilated) in which Spanish is taught 
should, if the organization of the school can be so 
managed, be set aside for this one purpose. The 
Spanish room should have a Spanish " atmosphere ". 
The walls, the blackboards, the teacher's desk should 
speak of Spain and Spanish lands. Maps, charts, 
calendars, framed pictures, colored plates (such as 
those that can be taken from Blanco y Negro), and 
posters for wall decoration will provide the fitting 
medio ambiente. Maps, drawings, Spanish proverbs 
and poems may occupy at times the unused black- 
board space. On the teacher's desk will be found 
Spanish magazines and newspapers which pupils 
may use out of class and even take home. Possibly 
the teacher may also wish to have thus available 
a few books on Spanish countries, or sets of post 
card or other reproductions of Spanish paintings. 1 
Sets of coins of Spain, Argentina, and other lands 
will be kept at hand for teaching the coinage system 
of Spanish nations. The doors may be marked 
entrada and salida. 

1 For suggestions as to pictures and post cards see Chapter 
XVII. 

113 



114 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

B. The size of classes 

The dictates of abundant experience, common 
sense, and good pedagogy, the needs of the child, 
consideration for the teacher, the conditions requisite 
for instruction in foreign languages according to 
the most recent ideas (which require much drill, 
oral practice, and attention to the individual pupil) 
all demand smaller classes in Spanish than prevail 
at present. 1 Year after year, resolutions and peti- 
tions of modern language associations in the United 
States have prayed for relief in the matter of large 
classes in the public high schools. Slight, has been 
the relief granted, but constantly greater (and rightly) 
have been the demands of school authorities for 
better results in foreign language instruction. The 
teachers themselves have been progressive and alert, 
and it is for that reason that in the past ten years 
the level of modern language instruction in this 
country has been constantly raised. And yet school 
boards and superintendents throughout the country, 
while demanding better teaching of modern lan- 

1 From 35 to 45 pupils are often assigned to beginning classes 
in Spanish in some of the high schools of New York City. In 
Manhattan, teachers are required to carry an average of 720 
" pupil periods " per week per teacher in a department of 
modern languages (and in other subjects except in English). 
The number of " pupil periods " is obtained by multiplying 
the number of students by the number of times per week the 
class recites; in languages this would mean 144 pupils reciting 
5 times per week, which could be distributed in 5 classes of 29 
each or 4 classes of 36 each. The teacher sometimes finds he 
has assigned him 5 classes averaging 36 to 38 each. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 115 

guages, fail to take the two steps that would most 
profoundly influence the betterment of that instruc- 
tion and at the same time contribute the just share 
of the authorities to that improvement, namely, 
(1) sanction the sabbatical year, with half pay, 
for language teachers for the purpose of travel 
and study in the lands whose languages they teach, 
and (2) limit the number of pupils in modern lan- 
guage classes to a maximum of 25, particularly 
for beginning classes, where it is most vital that 
proper conditions prevail in every respect. Of the 
first need we have already spoken. It seems furthest 
from accomplishment. The latter need is more 
easily met, is fully as urgent as the first mentioned 
and should probably be the first to be satisfied. 
Some modern language authorities set 20 as the 
maximum number that should be assigned to a 
language class. 1 Few, if any, language teachers can 
secure the best results of which they are capable with 
more than 25 pupils. 

Imagine what a Spanish teacher can accomplish 
with a class of 40 — a problem often given him for 
solving. In a period of 40 minutes each pupil can 
be given just one minute each day or say 200 minutes 
a year, that is 3^ hours of individual recitation, 

1 A questionnaire on supervised language study which was 
sent out by the Modern Language Section of the High School 
Conference of Illinois contained this question : Do you approve 
of limiting all language classes to a registration of not more 
than 20? In response to this question 249 principals and 
teachers in high schools voted Yes, 49 said No, and 17 were 
silent. — University of Illinois School of Education Bulletin 
No. 15, January 24, 1916. 



Il6 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

practice, and drill, provided that there are no inter- 
ruptions of the class in that year and the teacher 
takes up no minute of that time in correcting board 
work or attending to matters of class management 
or discipline. 

The usual excuses given for large language classes 
are (i) administration difficulties and (2) coincident 
increased cost of instruction. But the administra- 
tion difficulties are by no means insurmountable 
and should be surmounted. Any added expense 
occasioned by increase in teaching staff is immeasur- 
ably outweighed by the benefits that accrue to the 
pupil, to the school, and to the community, when 
the size of classes is reduced to a maximum number 

Conditions in this respect have been peculiarly 
unfortunate in the Spanish Departments of many 
schools, due, in part, to difficulty in securing teachers 
of Spanish and, in part, to the belief that Spanish 
is a fad and that classes in that language will in a 
short time return to their former reduced numbers. 
As offsetting these two conditions, we should re- 
member that the difficulty in obtaining Spanish 
teachers will before long be much lessened, as very 
many teachers are at present seeking to equip 
themselves to teach this language, and that the 
very steady growth in the numbers of students of 
Spanish is indicative of a continuity of the desire 
to study the language. 

The next few years should see an overwhelming, 
united movement on the part of all modern language 
teachers to secure from boards of education recog- 



THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 1 17 

nition and establishment of the principle of a maxi- 
mum of 25 in foreign language classes. 

C. The length of the period 

In the Junior High School it seems questionable 
whether a period longer than 35 minutes at most 
is desirable. The interest of these younger pupils 
can hardly be sustained profitably for a longer time, 
no matter how resourceful the teacher may be. In 
the ordinary High School or the Senior High School 
periods of 40 to 45 minutes of actual work have 
been found to be most suitable for classes in lan- 
guages as well as in other subjects. 1 

D. Supervised or directed study and the number 
of teaching periods 

Closely connected with the question of the length 
of the class period are the questions of supervised 
study and the number of periods that should be 
allotted to the teacher. What seems to be now 
considered as the proper arrangement, especially 
for modern languages, where theory and practice 
must be closely correlated, consists of a double 
period, that is, a recitation period of 45 minutes 
followed immediately by a study period of 45 minutes 

1 It should be noted, however, that the Perse School (Cam- 
bridge, England) gives to pupils of this age 36 periods a week of 
45 minutes each. Foreign language periods are of the same 
length as the others, and each language is taught six periods per 
week. 



Il8 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

under the direct supervision of the recitation teacher, 
with an intermission of from three to five minutes 
between the two periods. The practice, based on 
sound pedagogy, which has long been followed in 
European and some American schools, of devoting 
part of each class period to preparation for the work of 
the next, is thus amplified into greater effectiveness. 
In brief, during the first period the teacher obtains 
from each pupil his reactions on the problems of 
the lesson, drills individually and in concert the 
members of the class on the principles studied, works 
up to a high point the interest, participation, and 
enthusiasm of all, and thus gets group power as well 
as individual power. He does not merely hear 
the lesson ; he actively obtains the active coopera- 
tion of all in the mastery of the lesson. The period 
ends. A definite piece of work has been accom- 
plished and along the lines for which the pupils had 
been prepared in the study period of the previous 
day. An intermission follows. 

Next comes the study period. Now teacher and 
pupils together attack something new for the first 
time, possibly, of that day. The teacher develops 
the new material (using Spanish judiciously in so 
doing) by skillful questioning, by inductive processes, 
by clear explanations, by relating the new to the 
old, thus leading to an understanding of the new 
material — in short, he teaches the new lesson. 
Possibly, too, he gives at this time some drill on the 
new matter, although this is work more fitted to 
the recitation period proper. In this way would a 
grammar or composition lesson be prepared for. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 1 19 

With a reading lesson the teacher or the pupils read 
the advance lesson aloud for the sake of pronuncia- 
tion and aural comprehension, the teacher helps 
in working out the meaning of difficult passages, 
and so forth. Part, possibly half, of the study- 
period is then used by the pupils in doing any written 
exercises assigned, such as summaries, recastings 
and paraphrases, in memorizing or in further study 
necessary for the next recitation period. The teacher, 
during this time, will be free to give individual aid 
to those needing it. 

This is directed study. It saves time for the stu- 
dent in the processes of learning, obviates the 
fixation of erroneous ideas so frequently and easily 
caused by undirected or misdirected study at home, 
gives expert help at the point where help is most 
needed, takes full advantage of the state of mind 
or atmosphere created in the preceding recitation 
period, creates closer intellectual and social ties 
between teacher and pupil, and, as a result of these 
benefits, the " mortality " of the high school is dimin- 
ished. 

Obviously, in a school having six recitation periods 
per day, a teacher could be charged with but three 
classes under the double-period system. This would 
require a larger teaching staff than most cities would 
be willing to provide. In that case, it would be 
better for a teacher to have, say, 20 teaching periods 
a week (four recitation classes per day) and the 
remaining 10 periods could be apportioned in such 
a way as to give, say, two double periods per week 
to two of the four classes and three double periods 



120 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

to the other two, preferably to the beginning 
classes. But in any case it would mean that 
all of the 30 periods per week of the teacher's time 
would be devoted to classroom work — a heavy 
schedule, with no intervening periods for rest or for 
attending to the many clerical tasks a teacher must 
perforce discharge. It must be remembered that 
the up-to-date Spanish teacher must use his voice 
and exert his energies most actively during the 
greater part of a recitation period, and he is busy in 
many ways during every minute of the study period. 
The advocacy of a school day of eight periods of 
40 minutes each (not including a lunch period) is 
making progress in various parts of the United States. 
This plan has as its basis, in communities desiring 
supervised study, the fact that ordinarily the high 
school student carries four " prepared " or major 
subjects. To provide the double period in these 
four subjects necessitates eight periods a day in 
which he is to be continuously in touch with his 
teachers. But it could not be expected of the modern 
language teacher that he should teach four classes a 
day, each having an eighty-minute double period. 
But he could doubtless handle four recitation classes 
a day (20 a week) and supervise 10 periods of study 
(3 per week for two classes and 2 per week for the 
other two), a total of 30 periods out of a possible 
40 for the week. This would allow the teacher 10 
periods per week for rest and clerical work. (The 
clerical work should, however, be reduced by the 
school administration to the lowest possible mini- 
mum.) These periods should be distributed so 



THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 121 

as to prevent as much as possible continuous teach- 
ing of more than two periods in succession. The 
pupil would not, of course, have double periods 
every day in his four major subjects. He would 
have 4 X 8 (5 recitation + 3 study) periods or 32 pe- 
riods for his major subjects, during his early work 
in the high school. Later he would have probably 
4X7(5 recitation + 2 study) periods or 28 periods for 
major subjects. Into the remaining periods of the 
week would be fitted his unprepared subjects — 
music, drawing, physical training, and laboratory 
work. 1 This would seem a fair adjustment of the 
interrelated problems of supervised study and num- 
ber of periods in the teacher's assignment. Of course, 
the supervision of the study period, when properly 
done, demands much of the teacher, but for a good 
part of that period his voice is not taxed nor his 
nerves under tension to the same extent as in the 
recitation period. 

Under the system prevailing in many schools the 
teacher of Spanish has had to teach five and even 
six consecutive periods of forty-five minutes each 

1 At the Joliet Township High School, Joliet, 111., Principal 
J. Stanley Brown (after experimenting with an eighty-minute 
double period, and after consulting with another educator who 
had experimented with a sixty-minute double period) has adopted 
a school-day consisting of twelve thirty-five-minute periods, 
divided up as six double periods. Both the teacher and the 
pupil have a recitation-day of four double periods. The re- 
maining four single periods are used as follows : one for lunch, 
and three for odds and ends. In the case of the teacher these 
odds and ends are clerical and administrative tasks ; and in the 
case of the pupils, they are the classes in music, gymnastics, etc. 



122 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

per day. Using the most recent methods and work- 
ing under tension at top speed, though mayhap 
calmly enough outwardly, the teacher, no matter 
how strong he or she may be, who works for six 
consecutive periods per day finishes the day in a 
state of voicelessness and nervous exhaustion. Six 
consecutive periods are preposterous and usually 
spell for the teacher shattered health in a very few 
years. Five consecutive periods are also a heavy 
strain in modern language teaching if such a schedule 
is maintained for more than a year at a time. The 
author has watched closely in the high schools of 
New York City the effect upon language teachers 
of the number of teaching periods, and wishes to 
register here his firm conviction that four forty-five- 
minute recitation periods a day are all that should 
be asked of a modern language teacher if a high grade 
of work is to be expected at all times of that teacher. 
Four recitation periods and two additional periods of 
supervised study per day will not, however, overtax 
the teacher in an eight-period-per-day school if the 
free periods are arranged so as to allow the teacher 
a respite when most needed, say, if possible, in this 
way: Period I, recitation; 2, supervised study; 3, 
free ; 4, recitation ; (lunch) ; 5, recitation ; 6, super- 
vised study ; 7, free ; 8, recitation. 

E. Retardation 

The author's experience and observation of the 
teaching of Spanish have taken cognizance of a 
phenomenon that it may be interesting to discuss 



THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 1 23 

here, as it affects to a marked degree the organiza- 
tion of classes, in that provision must be made in 
the program every half year or year for those who 
are " left back". This phenomenon is a period of 
retardation in the progress of high school students 
of Spanish at the end of the first term or, in some 
schools, at the end of the second term (or first year). 
This seems to be more marked in Spanish than it is, 
say, in French. Corroboration of this observation 
made in New York schools has been received in let- 
ters from at least three high school and college 
teachers in widely separated parts of the country, 
all of whom unsolicited make mention of the exist- 
ence of this condition in institutions with which they 
are connected. It may be worth while to attempt 
here to ascertain the causes of this slowing-up and 
to suggest possible remedies. 

Failure to progress beyond the first term of Span- 
ish in the four-year High School has been due to 
many causes. 

First, it is evident that the first half year is the 
" sifting out " period. The linguistically unfit, 
especially in a class the majority of whom are begin- 
ning foreign language study with Spanish, find out 
their limitations in fifteen or twenty weeks of study. 
On failing at this first trial they either " repeat " 
or their course is changed to include some other 
language. 

Second, as previously remarked, beginning Span- 
ish classes have often been far too large for the 
accomplishment of good work by either teacher or 
pupil. These first two reasons apply, of course, 



124 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

to a greater or less extent to beginning classes in 
all foreign languages. 

Third, the widely heralded but greatly mistaken 
idea that Spanish is easy to acquire leads many 
to elect it, especially poor students who are recom- 
mended or influenced (sometimes by the graduat- 
ing-class teacher of the elementary school) to do so. 

Fourth, because of this same erroneous idea, 
students who fail in a half year or year of the study 
of French or Latin or German are often advised to 
"try Spanish''. Experience has shown that not 
more than one student in nine succeeds in Spanish 
after having been dropped from classes in the other 
languages mentioned. 1 If such students cannot 
learn French or Latin or 4 German they cannot 
learn Spanish. The result usually is only a sad 
jumble in the student's mind of a few Spanish words 
which he pronounces in French or Latin fashion 
or which he strings together with German words 
which he murders as impartially in pronunciation 
as he does the Spanish ones. 

Fifth, there is often too great an acceleration in 
the work of the first (and second) term. The pace 
set is often too rapid (i) in grammar, for some schools 
attempt to " cover " an elementary Spanish grammar 
text in one year, and (2) in reading matter. In the 
second half of the first year, when more and more 

1 For three years the author kept account of the varying 
fortunes of boys who in DeWitt Clinton High School " tried 
Spanish " after failing in other languages. There were 10.2 
per cent of them who passed one year of Spanish and 4.5 per 
cent who passed two years. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 1 25 

emphasis is placed on reading, a lack of properly 
graded material for this purpose has led to the use 
of highly literary selections, too difficult by far in 
vocabulary and style. Teacher and pupils using 
such reading texts despair at length and relapse 
into much pseudo-translation and little use of 
Spanish in the classroom, and thus the work becomes 
dull and hopeless. This use of unsuitable reading 
matter is, it is true, often due to ill-advised selection 
of texts, since the rather numerous inexperienced 
but well-meaning teachers of Spanish often make 
poor choices for their classes. 1 

Several remedies have been suggested. First, 
the elimination from all Spanish classes of those who, 
after two full half years of endeavor, fail to obtain 
credit for any given term (half year) of Spanish. 
" Repeaters " should not be allowed a third trial 
in any given unit into which the program in Spanish 
is divided. In public schools a student who is per- 
mitted more than two trials wastes the city's money, 
his own time, and the teacher's time and energy. 
His forte may be wood-turning or bookkeeping, 
but it surely is not Spanish. If he is a square peg 
he should not be forced into a round hole. 

Second, the organization of classes with a maxi- 
mum of 25 student members. 

Third, the insistence by teachers of Spanish upon 
the fact that Spanish is not an easy language to 

1 In one high school the author found a well-intentioned and 
energetic young teacher trying to use in a second-term class 
El Capitan Veneno as a reading text and wondering at the same 
time why the pupils had difficulty in understanding it ! 



126 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

acquire. Much missionary work is necessary to 
correct the common misconception concerning the 
ease of Spanish. Facts that combat the idea that 
Spanish is easy have already been given. No foreign 
language is easy to master, and Spanish is no ex- 
ception, especially when it is the first foreign lan- 
guage studied. If the truth in this matter be 
properly disseminated, fewer students generally weak 
in academic work and fewer of those who pre- 
viously have failed in other languages will choose 
Spanish. This language should not be made, either 
by popular misconception or the misconception of 
administrative officers of the school, the last hope 
and final resort of poor students. Such students 
cannot at the eleventh hour be inoculated with 
Spanish and thus saved from a linguistic death. 
A diminution in the numbers of such students of 
Spanish will be welcome, not unwelcome, to those 
who advocate the wider study of the language. 

Fourth, less speed in the work of the first year. 
Three or even four terms in the four-year High School 
should be devoted to the mastery of the usual be- 
ginning grammar. And much the same criticism 
may rightly be made of attempts to hurry the de- 
velopment of reading ability. The reading selec- 
tions in first, second, and third term, even in the 
four-year High School, should be chosen not for 
literary values but for practical, everyday ideas 
and vocabulary. Literary style, even in English, 
is usually little appreciated or understood by the 
high school Freshman. And the same is true of 
the vocabulary of literary selections. Why inflict 



THE ORGANIZATION OF CLASSES 127 

these things upon him in the study of a foreign lan- 
guage before he has acquired some mastery of the 
ordinary, everyday language ? Once the ordinary 
language is mastered to a good extent, let the stu- 
dent be gradually initiated into the riches of Spanish 
literature. But let us not coax him to run before 
he can walk. Let us put the horse before the 
cart. The practice, rather common in college 
work, of racing through a beginning grammar 
and two or three short novels, all in one year, has 
absolutely no place in any type of High School. 
Quien mas corre menos vuela applies with no 
greater exactness and force in any situation in life 
than it does in the learning and the teaching of 
modern languages in the High School. It is con- 
ceivable that in college, where Spanish is usually 
taken up after several years of Latin and French 
and where an eye-reading knowledge of Spanish 
is the aim in view, such a plan may be feasible, if 
not entirely commendable (from the standpoint 
of the high school teacher). But the author has a 
faint suspicion that the good Spanish proverb just 
cited might be observed with profit even in college 
classes. But he desists from that line of specula- 
tion lest an equally valuable proverb be stormed at 
him, which says : Zapatero, a tus zapatos. 

Fifth, more thoroughly trained teachers of Spanish 
and teachers of better judgment, who will not pre- 
sume upon the slight knowledge possessed by the 
student at the end of an early term (or year) of 
study. 

As a sixth remedy for retardation must be cited 



128 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

a greater variation of the work, both as to methods 
and as to material — more oral practice, more 
" manipulations ", more drill, in short, more of the 
methods suggested for use in teaching the course 
outlined for the Junior High School. As a varia- 
tion of material, it is suggested that at the beginning 
of the third term, or second year, an elementary 
composition book be begun, thus getting away from 
grammar and reading, per se. Often a change to 
a new type of book will do wonders to revive enthu- 
siasm and interest. 



CHAPTER X 

THE RECITATION 

A. Preparation for the recitation 

It is trite but pertinent to say that every lesson 
must have a definite, clear goal. The teacher, 
knowing what that goal should be, will direct every 
step of the class period to that one end. This re- 
quires the formation of a concise plan of action 
and the careful organization of material. The 
tools for the hours work must be in condition and 
ready for use. Paper, if needed, will be placed at 
hand ; chalk, erasers, charts, objective material, 
pictures, and maps will be provided. Monitors 
in each class will have been appointed to give out 
paper, clean the boards before and after the period, 
open and close windows and doors, collect exercises, 
etc. It will be most convenient to have a seating 
plan prepared, and a secretary named to take the 
roll from this plan as soon as the class is assembled 
and to record names of absentees on the back of the 
plan under an appropriate date line. These little 
devices will aid in saving time and in maintaining 
order and will make the machinery of the recita- 
tion move silently, swiftly, and with little attention 

129 



130 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

from the teacher. All these preliminaries having 
been attended to, the recitation should start with 
vim on the stroke of the bell. 



B. Assignment of the Lesson 

Unless the Spanish classes are organized on the 
basis of the double period — recitation and super- 
vised study directed by the recitation teacher — 
usually the first act of the teacher should be the as- 
signment of the work preliminary to the next reci- 
tation. This may be dictated in Spanish, one pupil 
writing the assignment on the board, or the teacher 
may himself write it. Of course, this assignment 
should be definite and clear. But definiteness and 
clearness are not sufficient. The teacher must 
foresee the difficulties the class will face in the new 
lesson, analyze them and show the class how to 
attack them, show what to stress, suggest devices 
for aid in mastering this or that, in short, show how 
to study the new lesson. In lower classes particu- 
larly, the teacher should anticipate the phonetic 
and grammar difficulties that lurk in " the next 
lesson". How to learn a vocabulary, to prepare a 
reading lesson, to do composition work, to prepare 
summaries, to learn verbs, to master a principle 
of grammar, are all practical and vital problems, 
the solution of which can be successfully attained 
only under the guidance of a teacher who has him- 
self solved these problems and who has worked out 
ways of teaching his students how to attack their 
work. 



THE RECITATION 131 

C. The Recitation Proper 

After the class has been prepared for its next 
session, the work of the day follows. In this the 
teacher will, of course, test the preparation of the 
pupils for thoroughness and correctness and test 
their reactions upon the principles of the lesson; 
but the chief function of the teacher of Spanish in 
this part of the period is that of the drill master. 
Drill must be given in various forms upon the same 
principles or upon various principles in the same form. 
Action and reaction must be obtained from the pupils 
upon the problems of the day's work. Participa- 
tion and ready cooperation should be continuous. 
Attention and interest must not flag. The activity 
of the pupil should, at least to the casual observer, 
be greater than that of the teacher. How are these 
conditions obtained ? 

The skill and the technique of the teacher will 
create these conditions. In the exercise of his skill 
he will 

(1) use Spanish in all the ordinary situations 
that arise in the classroom, and he will require the 
students to use Spanish likewise ; 

(2) use problem-putting, thought-provoking ques- 
tions, whether expressed in English or Spanish ; 

(3) put his questions to the class as a whole and 
then select the individual to answer ; 

(4) insist upon, if necessary, but habitually get 
answers in complete sentences and in a clear 
voice ; 

(5) permit no interruption of the pupil who is 



132 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

reciting by others who may be eager to make sugges- 
tions; 1 ■ 4 

(6) give much practice in oral Spanish, remem- 
bering that in training the ear he is creating a "feel- 
ing " for the language that will be of the greatest 
aid in all the other phases of mastering Spanish ; 

(7) call upon every pupil at least once during each 
recitation, if at all possible to do so ; in any case 
his plan for calling on pupils will be systematic 
but not easily divined by them (for instance, they 
may be selected according to the order in which 
they sit in the diagonal rows) ; 

(8) assign board work, for review, testing, or drill, 
by means of giving out cards on which the task is 
set in written directions; 

(9) have papers given out or collected by monitors 
according to a definite system ; 

(10) give a pupil time in which to answer but 
allow no guessing or unnecessary delay ; 

(1 1) give a word of public approval for good work ; 

(12) make use of the more able pupils in correct- 
ing board and paper work ; 

(13) have much concert work (if he is successful 
in conducting this kind of activity), consisting of 
drill in forms, memory work, reading aloud, and 
so forth ; 

(14) refer to maps, charts, and objects to reenforce 
points of the lesson ; 

(15) be the sole judge of when aid is to be given 
to a pupil and by whom it shall be given. 

From start to finish the recitation will progress 
steadily and according to the teacher's prearranged 



THE RECITATION 133 

schedule. But the period, will not close without a 
clear-cut summary, preferably in Spanish, of the 
work just accomplished. This summary will be the 
climax of the hour and may be developed through 
questions to a member of the class or it may be 
stated succinctly by the teacher and may then be 
repeated by various pupils. A variation of this is 
to set aside the last five minutes, in which each pupil 
will write a summary of the day's recitation. 



CHAPTER XI 

METHODS AND DEVICES 

The ear, the eye, the tongue, the imitative powers, 
the motor nerves, the memory, and the reasoning 
processes must all be trained by the teacher of 
Spanish if the aim we have set in teaching that 
language is to be accomplished. What are the 
various media at hand through which this training 
may be given ? 

They are the reading text, the grammar exercise, 
dictation, oral practice, composition work, and 
memory work. Of course, any one of these media 
may be and often is connected, in teaching processes, 
with any one or several of the others. Thus reading 
may be used as the basis of all the other media. 
Memory passages may be taken from the reading, 
from composition sections, from the grammar text, 
or from the material dictated. Composition may be 
oral or written and may have its foundation in 
various types of work. Let us make such sugges- 
tions for the use of these media as will bring into 
play the various senses and faculties mentioned. 

Reading 

In addition to the methods and devices suggested 
on pages 80-82 for handling the reading lesson, we may 

134 



METHODS AND DEVICES 135 

enumerate the following: A sentence is read in a 
class of younger pupils: Los ladrones robaron el 
dinero al muchacho. To center attention on the 
sentence, a pupil writes it on the board. The 
pupils are asked each to formulate a question 
based on the statement and to write the question on 
a slip of paper. The slips are collected and given 
to a pupil to copy on the board near the statement. 
While this is being done, the class continues with 
other work and later examines the questions. Sug- 
gestions are made for improvement or variation. 
Or this may all be done orally. 

Or the important words of the sentence may be 
placed in new and original Spanish sentences. Or 
the teacher may read two or three short sentences 
(books closed) and ask to have them repeated by 
members of the class. Or he may ask to have the 
sense given in English, orally or in writing. Or, 
occasionally, a paragraph may be chosen for written 
translation into English. When these translations 
are corrected, pupils may be sent to the board to 
turn the English back into Spanish. This could, 
of course, be done with profit chiefly in the case of 
the more advanced classes. 

Or questions upon the form of the Spanish text 
may be given as well as upon the content, thus : 
De Vd. el infinitivo de dijeron. I Cual es el singular 
de ladrones? i Como se escribe el plural de reloj? 
(In answering, the pupil will, of course, use the 
Spanish names of the letters.) Ponga Vd. en plural 
toda la oration. 

Or questions on either the form or content may 



136 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

be written on cards and these questions handed out 
for either oral or written answers. These cards are 
a particularly good time-saving device. Or the 
teacher may assign for intensive oral work certain 
lines of the reading. Upon the indicated section 
the teacher's questioning of the next day will be 
concentrated. For example, in more advanced 
classes the pupils will be expected to know all the 
verb forms of the passage, the various idioms therein 
(which they will be required to use in original sen- 
tences in tenses, persons, and numbers differing 
from those in which the idioms occur in the text), 
and they will be asked to summarize in the foreign 
language the incidents related in the selection. 

Or in the higher classes outside reading may be 
required. This may be begun on a small scale as 
early as the fourth term. The text should be easier 
than that used for the class work. A report on this 
reading should be required in the form of a summary 
of the amount read at the end of every two weeks. 
A record of these reports should be kept. The 
teacher may supplement these reports by oral quizzes 
or may set brief written tests thereon. Credit 
should be given for this reading in some way, as, 
for instance, by adding to the daily class mark for 
the month or term a certain number of points. 
Every effort should be made by the teacher to en- 
courage outside reading, and it should be made as 
attractive as possible to the pupils by the interest- 
ing nature of the stories suggested and the com- 
parative ease of the language in which they are told. 
The teacher will always show an interest in the 



METHODS AND DEVICES 137 

pupil's opinion of the story read and it will be dis- 
cussed by them in informal fashion. 

Or for rapid reading in higher classes, a number 
of pages may be assigned to the whole class for 
preparation. These pages may be divided up among 
different sections of the class, each section preparing 
a summary in Spanish of a certain number of pages. 
These summaries, which should be real summaries 
and not paraphrases, and therefore short, may then 
be placed on the board in proper sequence, thus pro- 
viding a " boiled down " version of the whole section 
assigned for the day. Any difficulties that may be 
found in the Spanish should, of course, be cleared 
up. 

Or paraphrases and definitions, written or oral, 
all in Spanish, may be required. Practice should be 
given in reading a short passage, closing the book 
and telling in one's own Spanish words what was 
read. Or a passage may be rewritten, each noun 
being replaced by a pronoun, adverbs by adverbial 
phrases, simple sentences being made into complex 
and compound sentences or vice versa. Or after 
the reading lesson of the day is finished, the class 
may read on at sight, the teacher giving variants, 
synonyms, or definitions, in Spanish, of unknown 
words or involved expressions. 

Or attention may be centered on reading by having 
one pupil stand before the class and read a portion 
of the day's lesson while the others listen with 
books closed and make notes of errors in pronuncia- 
tion. The listeners then place on the board the 
words that were mispronounced and the teacher 



138 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

drills the reader, then the class, in the correct 
pronunciation of these words. 

These are probably sufficient hints as to how 
variety of method and of appeal may be introduced 
into the reading lesson. Needless to say, no teacher 
will attempt all these plans with the same class in the 
same week. Skill in using each device mentioned 
comes only with practice. But by following these 
and similar schemes, real reading, not mere eye- 
reading, may be attained. 

Grammar 

Grammar is but the systemized classification of 
the facts of a language as they are observed in usage. 
It seems worth while for the teacher to make clear 
to his pupils, probably at the beginning of a formal 
study of Spanish grammar, that the Spanish lan- 
guage is not the offspring of some textbook of 
Spanish grammar (notwithstanding the veneration 
in which the grammar of the Real Academia is held 
by many), but that the grammar has been derived 
from the language. 

The practical corollary of such a statement is, of 
course, that the grammar should be taught induc- 
tively, that is, from observing the language as used by 
well-educated writers and speakers. The reading 
text and the grammar book may be considered the 
field in which the phenomena of the language are 
to be observed ; also the speech of the teacher if 
he be a native speaker of the language or if he possess 
a good acquired command of it. Example should 



METHODS AND DEVICES 139 

precede the rule. Ordinarily the rule need not be 
remembered, but the example must be memorized. 
Type sentences to illustrate a principle of inflection 
or syntax should be made the basis of instruction 
in grammar, whether conducted according to induc- 
tive or deductive processes. 

It is generally agreed that the chief difficulties in 
Spanish grammar are (1) verb forms, (2) the use of 
the subjunctive, and (3) personal object pronouns. 
Let us consider here ways of teaching each of these 
difficult matters. 

(1) Verb forms. The great difficulty here, for the 
English-speaking student accustomed to a minimum 
of verb inflection, is to feel the force of verb endings. 
He more quickly feels, it seems, the past meaning of 
interior vowel changes, as in tuve, than he does that 
of hable or vendia, etc., which depend entirely upon 
variation of exterior vowels to express past time. 
Probably this is because he is accustomed to very 
similar interior vowel changes for the past tense of so 
many English verbs of frequent use. Oral practice 
is a good way to develop a perception of the mean- 
ings of verb endings. For example : after causing 
to be conjugated by^ individuals and in concert 
the present tense of tenerun libro, the process is this : 
I Que r tiene Vd. ? Tengo un libro. I Que tiene 
el? El tiene un libro. £ Tenemos libros? Si, 
seiior, tenemos libros, and so forth, rapidly, energeti- 
cally, and enthusiastically, even though the subject 
be most prosy in itself. The same process is appli- 
cable to all tenses, especially in connection with the 
appropriate adverb of time, ayer, maiiana, and so 



140 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

forth. This method is, of course, especially appli- 
cable to beginning classes. The oral work should be 
reinforced by abundant blackboard work in the 
writing of verb forms. It may be remarked here 
that the author believes, judging from his own 
experience, that it is well to eliminate subject pro- 
nouns (except in third person forms) from early 
work and to concentrate attention and practice 
upon the endings of the verbs. Likewise, he believes 
that no particular advantage results from the omis- 
sion of the familiar forms, singular and plural, of 
verbs. The pupil learns six forms as readily as he 
does four. Practice will, quite naturally, center upon 
the use of Vd. and Vds. with the third persons in- 
stead of t& and vosotros with the second persons. 

We have already mentioned the desirability in 
beginning classes of conjugating verbs in entire 
phrases. Later, perhaps, — say after the first year 
— it is sufficient to give the verb alone in con- 
jugating. 

But never must verb drill be relaxed throughout 
the secondary school study of Spanish. Unremitting 
review drill is the price of verb mastery. Ear, 
tongue, eye, memory, and reasoning powers must be 
so trained that the correct form in mood, tense, 
person, and number come readily to the tongue or to 
the pen. 

In review work in verbs, one irregular (or regular) 
verb a day may be assigned for thorough rehearsal. 
A rapid oral repetition of forms by individuals begins 
the review. At the same time several may be 
writing synopses (in different persons or numbers) 



METHODS AND DEVICES 141 

on the rear board. Or the verb in all its forms, or in 
a synopsis, may be repeated in concert. Or while 
the rest of the class is engaged in other work, several 
members may be sent to the board to write out full 
conjugations or synopses. The teacher can quickly 
glance over this work between periods and tell 
whether those students know the verb of the day. 
If not, he will make note of the failures, and the next 
day will require them to rewrite on paper the same 
verb. In a week the whole class can thus have had 
their turn at verb work at the board. Then may 
follow such drills as these : The teacher rapidly 
composes brief questions containing the verb and 
calls on different students for answers in which they 
must use the verb of the day (which usually is the 
one that the teacher will use in the question). 
Suppose it is the verb decir. Teacher : £ Que digo 
ahora ? Pupil : Vd. dice una frase. i Que dir& Vd. 
de eso ? No dire nada. i Se lo dijo Vd. a el ? No 
se lo dije, and so forth. 

Or the teacher may use the verb in short sentences 
and ask for the English equivalents, as : Me lo 
esta diciendo. Digaselo a ella. Yaselohemosdicho. 
No lo digamos ahora, and so forth. Or the teacher 
may give short English sentences and ask for their 
translation into Spanish, as: " We were saying so/' 
" They had not said it to us." " Let us say it to 
them," and so forth. Incidentally, good drill on 
object pronouns may, as has been seen, be combined 
with the verb drill. This kind of work should be 
lively. No hesitation should be allowed. 

Or with young students one may use time tests, 



142 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

oral or written, to help automatize knowledge of 
verb forms. Johnny finds it great fun to beat 
Jimmy a half second in saying or writing, digo la 
palabra, dices la palabra, etc., and at the same time 
both Johnny and Jimmy acquire an automatic control 
of the forms, and to a certain extent, of the meanings 
of those forms. 

Or with pupils, younger or older, flash cards may 
be used for verb drill in a great variety of ways. 
Sentences having blanks to be filled with the different 
tenses (affording a synoptical review) are good 

practice. The card reads: iQue el? 

Dice, decia, dijo, dir&, diria, ha dicho, habia dicho, 
habrd dicho, and habria dicho will be supplied in 
turn if decir is in question. Or cards may be pre- 
pared providing the drills suggested in above para- 
graphs of this section. Or instead of blanks, an 
infinitive may be used which is to be changed for 
tense, and so forth. Or short sentences containing 
forms of the verb may be written out and the pupils 
directed to make the sentences plural throughout, 
thus : El nifio lo dijo. Pupil : " Los niflos lo 
dijeron." 

It will be noted that most of the suggested verb 
drill is in the form of short but complete sentences. 

(2) The use of the subjunctive. For inflection 
of forms, the subjunctive may be drilled upon by 
oral and written repetition as suggested above for 
the indicative. But the chief problem in teaching 
the subjunctive is its use, its syntax. Type sentences 
are most helpful. Deseo que venga. Temo que lo 
venda. Quise que lo hiciese. Desearia que me 



METHODS AND DEVICES 143 

hablase. With younger students a list of a few 
such sentences should be committed thoroughly to 
memory and often repeated. This will do much to 
create a feeling for the subjunctive. Of course the 
meaning should be held in mind during the memoriz- 
ing and the repetition. The teacher's ingenuity will 
suggest schemes for drilling on the uses of the sub- 
junctive. Here are a few that may be employed : 

The teacher gives instructions that each partial 
sentence he utters must be completed with a que 
clause containing, in the subjunctive, the verb in 
question (for example, dar). He begins : Yo pido — 
Pupil: que Vd. me de el libro. El rog6 — que 
le diesemos la pluma. Busco un amigo — que me de 
dinero. Me alegre de — que no se lo diera a Vd., 
and so forth. Or after several verbs have been 
reviewed once, a combined review of the subjunctive 
of all of them may be accomplished in a similar 
manner. Siento — que el vaya, explique, haga, 
quiera, sea, tenga. Senti — que el fuese, explicase, 
hiciese, quisiera, fuera, tuviera. These drills may, 
of course, be done as written exercises, as may the 
following, also. " Substitute for the underlined 
infinitive of each of the following sentences the correct 
finite form : Se hundi6 el sol en el mar sin que yo 
verlo. Enseneme un camino que llevarm e a Toledo." 
Or this type will be useful : " Express in complete 
Spanish sentences : Let us (or let him) ir, explicar, 
hacer, querer, ser, tener." And to drill on the 
subjunctive used as imperative this type of exercise 
will be useful : " Express in the negative (or affirma- 
tive) imperative, polite form, singular, the following 



144 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

phrases: dejarlo hasta otra vez; tenerlo presente; 
hacerlo ahora." 

(3) Personal object pronouns. Probably the 
forms and positions of object pronouns provide the 
most striking instance in the study of Spanish of 
the need of drill to acquire assimilation, mastery, and 
facility in use. Se lo doy, even with its ambiguities> 
is easily understood in theory by all grades of stu- 
dents. But ready and automatic formulation in 
Spanish of the thought, " I give it to him," etc., ya 
es otro cantar. The proper introduction to this 
difficulty is, of course, inductive explanation and drill 
on the position and use of one object pronoun 
(direct or indirect) with the verb, as: Lo doy a 
Juan or Le doy un libro. Type sentences will help 
at this point very greatly. Abundant practice should 
first be given upon this matter of form and position 
of one object pronoun. Thus : " Replace each 
noun in the following sentences with a pronoun : 
Voy a tomar el desayuho. Mi hermano ya tomo el 
desayuno. Tomamos las comidas muy regular- 
mente. Mozo, traiga el cafe. No ponga alii la 
taza." And so forth. Then may follow explanation 
and drill on position and uses of two object pronouns. 
Lo doy a Juan and Le doy un libro are combined 
into Se lo doy (a el). Type sentences illustrating 
two object pronouns should be committed to memory. 
Drill units similar to those given above should be 
given by the teacher. 

Practice on pronouns may, as we have seen, be 
most conveniently combined with that on verbs ; 
but this combined drill should be used only with 



METHODS AND DEVICES 145 

advanced classes or older pupils. The reading will 
provide plenty of opportunities for replacing nouns 
with pronouns. 

Prepositional forms of pronouns, possessive adjec- 
tives and pronouns, relative pronouns, etc., may all 
be presented and drilled upon in similar ways. 

And in teaching Spanish grammar, shall we use 
Spanish or English? An answer must be given after 
first considering such points as the following : 

(1) Grammatical terminology in any language is 
more or less technical and of little use outside the 
classroom. 

(2) Time is precious in the language class ; none 
should be wasted in " stunts " or " tricks ", just for 
the sake of doing them. 

(3) The terminology that is necessary to describe 
inflection is probably more easily acquired than that 
which deals with syntax. 

(4) Spanish should be as much as possible the 
language of the classroom. 

(5) The student likes to believe as he progresses 
that he can use Spanish in any situation that arises, 
once the vocabulary therefor is supplied him. He 
takes a certain delight in trying out his knowledge 
in new situations that arise. 

From a consideration of these points, it seems 
safe to say that if (3), (4), and (5) are true, it is 
worth while for the teacher and pupil to discuss in 
Spanish the simpler situations that occur in the 
study of Spanish grammar, but that because of (1) 
and (2) it is not desirable to stress this kind of work 
nor to make it a rule always to use Spanish instead of 



146 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

English for the presentation (by induction or deduc- 
tion) of a topic of grammar. Both languages should 
be used when time permits, possibly Spanish first 
and then, if necessary for the sake of absolute clear- 
ness, English. Spanish may and should be used in 
increasing degree as the instruction becomes more 
advanced. And in drill work, if not in presentation, 
Spanish should be the language used by far the more. 
It is in place to cite here the instruction given by a 
Minister of Public Instruction of Austria-Hungary 
to the foreign-language teachers of the dual empire, 
where so many tongues and dialects are spoken : 
The teacher of modern foreign languages should use 
as much as possible the language which is the subject 
of study : he should use as much as is necessary the 
language of the pupil; but he should never forget 
that he must at all times be intelligible to all the 
pupils. This is excellent advice. But this whole 
question is not nearly so important a one as is that 
concerned with the amount, thoroughness, kind, 
frequency, and variety of drill. 

Other things being equal, that grammar text 
should be used in which the Spanish passages 
consist of connected prose describing in an interest- 
ing way the events and situations of everyday life (in 
a Spanish country) or relating short stories or anec- 
dotes and always exemplifying as closely as possible 
the principles of grammar explained and illustrated 
in the lesson of which it is a part. This means, of 
course, that a " grammar book ' prepared in this 
way, with readings and exercises, is not a grammar 
in the more strictly interpreted meaning of the term, 



METHODS AND DEVICES 1 47 

but is, rather, a combination reader, grammar, and 
exercise book. Fortunately, most of the Spanish 
" grammars " available provide this combination of 
material in a manner well adapted for college and 
older high school students. And some of them are 
particularly felicitous in the way in which the reading 
text is made continuous throughout the first and 
greater part of the book. But it is the belief of the 
author that few, if any, of these books are well 
suited, without considerable adaptation by the 
teacher, to the use of the Junior High School pupil 
of twelve, thirteen, or fourteen years of age. 

One feature of the grammar books now commonly 
in use is the exercise for translation from English 
into Spanish. Often these sentences consist of 
unrelated, disconnected, and stilted sentences. These 
sentences, perhaps, are useful in teaching older 
students, those of the upper grades of the four-year 
High School and college students, in whom the 
reasoning powers are developed and who must know 
the reason for steps to be taken and who center 
their attention upon the form rather than upon the 
content of sentences to be translated. But in the 
instruction in Spanish in the Junior High School, 
and in the first year of the four-year High School, 
which instruction is based largely on imitation and 
practice, detached sentences for translation from 
English into Spanish should be avoided. Not 
until the third year of the Junior High School should 
English-Spanish translation be attempted and, even 
then, only sentences connected closely in thought 
and content should be used. Certainly the first kind 



148 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

of grammar exercises done by the young student 
should not consist in translation of isolated English 
sentences into Spanish. Manipulations, questions 
to be answered, recastings, filling of blanks, oral 
and written repetitions — all skillfully devised — 
are pertinent forms of exercises. 

Dictation 

To the suggestions already given for dictation in 
Chapter VII, it may be added that excellent material 
for this type of work is a short summary, prepared 
by the teacher, of a story previously studied. The 
following device is also suggested : send the entire 
class to the board and from a central point of the 
room give the dictation. Have pupils change places 
and correct each other's work. As a check, a rapid 
examination of each board by the teacher may be 
made after the class is seated. These dictations 
at the board should be short. 

Composition 

Composition may be oral or written. It may be 
begun, though possibly not under that name, in the 
early weeks of the course, even in Junior High School. 
Answers elicited in response to skillful questioning 
to develop a topic, when put together in consecutive 
form by the pupils, will form a continuous recital 
that is in fact composition work. Retellings and 
descriptions of objects and situations are in place 
from the start and may be classified as composition 



METHODS AND DEVICES 149 

work. Free reproduction may gradually but steadily 
be introduced. Later, say as early as the third 
term of the ordinary High School or the first term 
of the Senior High School, a formal composition or 
prose book may be begun. This should, in a 
measure, be a continuation of the plan of " doing 
tricks with the language " ; but a large part of this 
work should consist of translation from English 
into Spanish of connected (and continuous) prose, 
models for which are provided in a preceding Span- 
ish text, likewise connected and continuous, and 
which is to be carefully studied before the English- 
Spanish is to be attempted. A suitable book of 
this kind should also provide with this work direc- 
tions for an accompanying review of grammatical 
points, all of which are illustrated in the Spanish 
text with the study of which this grammar review is 
connected. The English-Spanish text will follow 
pretty closely the immediately preceding Spanish 
text, differing from it scarcely at all in vocabulary 
and chiefly in the tense, mood, person, or number of 
verbs used, numbers of nouns (especially of noun 
subjects), and so forth. In fact, this type of com- 
position book is a continuation, in another guise, of 
the manipulations to which the pupil will have 
already been habituated. Emphasis will thus be 
placed on expression of the thought in Spanish 
rather than upon word-for-word translation. Ac- 
companying Spanish-English and English-Spanish 
vocabularies are suitable ; but the latter will not be 
much needed if the book is carefully planned and 
correctly handled by the teacher, who must give 



150 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

considerable practice upon the Spanish model 
text before letting the class write the English- 
Spanish sections. 

In the third year of the Senior High School or of the 
ordinary High School, the composition work may 
consist of short passages for translation into Spanish 
based on simple topics, the vocabulary of which 
should be approximately that of the prose book 
previously finished. Or free composition on assigned 
topics may be practiced. One way to handle this 
free composition work is to assign to only one member 
of the class a topic on which to write two or three 
paragraphs the following day. Preferably, he will 
not write this out, but will think on his subject and 
the vocabulary necessary therefor and in the first 
minutes of the period, or before the class begins, he 
will step to the board and write out his composition. 
When the class has finished other work the teacher 
will make corrections and suggestions. This centers 
attention upon one piece of work, and in the criti- 
cisms evoked from the class almost as much benefit 
results to the group and to the individuals there- 
of as if the whole class had written upon the 
topic assigned. Incidental but important is the 
fact that much labor in correcting papers is thus 
saved the teacher. This plan might be extended 
to include three or four students a day, each writing 
on different topics. In any case, all members of the 
class should have as much practice as the leader in 
this kind of activity. 



METHODS AND DEVICES 151 

Correspondence 

A phase of composition work to which considerable 
attention is given in teaching Spanish is the writing of 
commercial letters in that language. In the opinion 
of the author, this work should not begin until after 
one year of ordinary composition work of the kind 
described in the above paragraphs. The important 
thing for a student of Spanish is that he know Span- 
ish ; the more or less technical language of business is 
easily superimposed, as a layer, if you will, upon a 
basis of a well-acquired knowledge of the essentials 
of Spanish. To attempt to learn so-called commer- 
cial Spanish first, is " putting the cart before the 
horse ". 

The book used as a basis for this correspondence 
work should consist not only of model letters for 
study, but it should also place emphasis on business 
terms and phrases by means of careful selection and 
plenty of drill. Short model letters should be given 
for memorizing. Letters in English for translation 
should follow Spanish models previously given and 
should differ from those models principally in the 
manner and order in which technical terms, tenses 
of verbs, and so forth, are used. The vocabulary 
necessary for writing these English into Spanish 
letters should be practically identical with that used 
in the preceding model letters. Some of these model 
letters should be so framed that one type of the 
exercises of the book may consist of writing answers 
to these letters. Answers in Spanish should be 
written to advertisements in Spanish given in the 



152 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

correspondence book or taken from Spanish papers. 
Later on, the teacher may vary this work by giving 
such general directions as these for free composition 
in letter writing : " Write a letter to a business house 
in Buenos Aires, offering them the agency for a line 
of goods you manufacture. Quote terms and offer 
inducements. Be specific and courteous. " Or, " In- 
corporate the following ideas in a Spanish letter to 
Serafin Mentecato, Aldeahuela, Cuba/' etc., etc. 

Memory Work 

Someone has said that the great art of life is for- 
getting ; that in forgetting the useless lies liberation. 
In a similar way one might say that the great art of 
language acquisition is remembering. There are 
even some who assert that the only faculty of the 
mind that is involved and that is trained in the 
process of mastering a foreign language is the mem- 
ory. But experienced modern language teachers 
realize that the study of a language also brings into 
play and develops the reasoning powers (as in the 
study of syntax), by training the mind in synthesis, 
analysis, and classification, that is, in habits of logical 
thought. Likewise, the emotions and the will may 
be, and usually are, trained in language study. If 
only memory were involved, learning a language 
would be purely an art. But since ideation and 
logical thought are at the same time involved, ac- 
quiring a foreign language becomes in part, at least, 
a science. 

And yet learning a language is, at least for the 



METHODS AND DEVICES 1 53 

high school pupil, largely an art, for it necessitates 
chiefly a training of the memory, both of the mental 
and the physical memory. Sensory and motor 
nerves, ear and eye for perception, and tongue and 
other muscles for expression — all these modalities 
must be trained in a manner quite similar to that 
in which the pianist, the vocalist, or the violinist 
finds it necessary to drill himself day after day and 
year after year. And the neural habit thus in- 
stituted is at least one factor, the physiological 
factor, of memory; the other factor, the psychical 
factor, is a specialized form of association of ideas. 

Memory is both retention and re-expression. It 
is the power to retain an impression and to repro- 
duce it when required. Retention is conditioned 
upon : 

(1) The stability of the nervous system; 

(2) The intensity of the stimulus ; 

(3) The breadth and strength of the association 
of ideas awakened ; 

(4) Repetition of the stimulus with the proviso 
that this repetition be made under proper conditions 
and that the time element be present, that is, an 
interval of time must exist between the repetitions 
(this is often called the " memory span ") ; 

(5) Interest; 

(6) The number of modalities or senses employed 
in the perception of the original stimulus and in the 
repetition of the stimulus. 

Recollection and re-expression are conditioned 
upon at least the following elements : 

(1) Permanency of the original impression ; 



154 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

(2) Vividness of the impression ; 

(3) Organization of the concepts resulting from 
the percepts, and the building up of appercepts ; 

(4) A habit of recalling. 

It is pertinent to examine into the procedure to 
be used in teaching memory passages in foreign 
languages, keeping in mind the underlying prin- 
ciples of memory as outlined above. 

The passage to be memorized should be, first, 
interesting. This means that it must express ideas 
within the comprehension of the pupil and in lan- 
guage fitted to his stage of progress. It means that 
these ideas should be such as the pupil's mind will 
center upon chiefly with involuntary attention. It 
means that, if necessary, apperceptive masses, a 
milieu, should previously be built up so that these 
ideas must be interesting. Second, the ideas of the 
passage should be vivid. 

The method of presentation and use should in- 
clude : (1) Appeal to as many modalities as possible. 
The pupil should hear the selection, should write it 
at dictation, should read it individually and in con- 
cert with the other members of the class ; (2) Analysis 
of the selection for difficulties and for organization 
of the material therein, with particular reference to 
the principles of apperception ; (3) Repetition of the 
passage — orally, in writing, in chorus. These repe- 
titions should be at expected and at unexpected 
times. Without frequent repetition the time first 
spent in learning is wasted. Only one or two re- 
callings will not fix a passage in the memory. Re- 
tention is predicated upon recalling. (4) Observance 



METHODS AND DEVICES 155 

of the time element, of the "memory span". The 
interval of time between repetitions should be 
gradually lengthened. 

The purposes of teaching memory passages are 
at least two : (1) To give the student for life-long 
retention thoughts of exceptional worth, beauty, or 
power, clothed in terms of the foreign language that 
are simple yet forceful. If the passages selected 
arouse the higher emotions — such as patriotism, 
compassion, filial affection, and love of the beautiful 
— tanto mejor. Many persons whose occupations 
have not necessitated a continuation of the use of a 
language have retained out of several years of the 
study of that language little concrete evidence of 
that study other than the passages they committed 
to memory. It is difficult or impossible, of course, 
to estimate the training of the reasoning powers 
that they obtained from that study. (2) To create 
a " feeling " for the foreign language. To that end 
prose passages representative of the normal usages 
and vocabulary are preferable material. Next to 
abundant daily use of a foreign language, memory 
selections will do most to create this much-to-be- 
desired " feeling " for a language. 

Proverbs, in which the Spanish language is so 
exceedingly rich and which so concisely express the 
age-long wisdom of Spanish peoples, should be 
memorized from the early stages onward. Idioms, 
of which it sometimes seems the Spanish language 
entirely consists, are, for excelencia, a staple for 
memory work. Colloquial phrases are likewise fit 
material. The type sentences of the grammar book 



156 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

should be unfailingly memorized. A summary, 
prepared by the pupil, may be memorized after it 
has been corrected by the teacher. The content of 
the story as well as connected Spanish prose is thus 
masterea and ready for refashioning to suit future 
uses. 

Oral Practice 

Sufficient has been said in a previous chapter 
concerning oral practice. It is pertinent, however, 
to ' point out again that properly conducted oral 
practice makes for aural comprehension of Spanish, 
and for training of the sensory nerves to stimuli in 
Spanish and of the motor nerves in carrying out 
the reactions of the brain to those stimuli ; affords 
a means of awakening and holding interest ; and 
eventually leads to real reading, that is, instant 
mental comprehension of the presentations of the 
ocular nerves plus those of the auditory nerves — 
for, as we know, even in silent reading (especially of a 
foreign language) we seem to hear as well as see the 
printed words. 



CHAPTER Xn 

A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 

Labels in Spanish for objects in the classroom. It 

is helpful, especially in classes of younger pupils, to 
affix to the desk, map, wall, blackboard, chalk box, 
eraser, and so forth, a neatly lettered label, el mapa, 
la pared, el borrador. This gives a means, especially 
to beginning students, of associating with the object 
its name in Spanish and of making a " direct '" 
appeal to the eye. Entrada, salida, haga el favor de 
cerrar la puerta, and so forth, will afford material 
for placards to be affixed to the doors. 

Proverbs. Clearly printed Spanish proverbs may 
be posted up about the room. Thus placed, they 
make a surprisingly deep impression upon the in- 
quisitive minds of children. It is best to have these 
memorized before they are thus posted. An able 
instructor in science was recently heard to say that 
the only things that had remained with him from 
all his study of a certain language were the proverbs 
he had learned in the early part of his high school 
study of that language. 

On sending a pupil to the board. It is a good plan 
in assigning sentence work at the board to accustom 
the pupils to this procedure : When a pupil's name is 
called, he says, Tomo la primera oraci6n, Voy a 



158 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

escribir la quinta frase, and so forth. This gives 
practical drill in ordinal numerals and contributes 
to the fulfillment of the desirable practice of using 
as much Spanish as possible in the classroom. 

A letter to teacher. Vd. no estuvo en la clase 
ayer, sefior Jones. Vaya Vd. al pizarron a escribirme 
una carta en que me diga la causa de su ausencia, 
says a teacher to a pupil of advanced grade. Jones 
thus does not escape work by absence and, inciden- 
tally, will probably find considerable interest in 
telling in Spanish about what he did when absent. 

Spelling in Spanish. When teacher says to Mary, 
Deletree Vd. la palabra, it sounds odd, to say the 
least, to hear Mary reply in English. It is an easy 
matter, even for the youngest beginners, to learn 
to give Spanish names to the letters in spelling. 
It is not necessary for them to start by memorizing 
the alphabet consecutively. If the teacher begins 
by spelling words in Spanish and has the class repeat 
them, in a very short time the pupils will learn to 
name the letters properly and quickly and be able to 
spell as readily in Spanish as in English. They 
find fascination in doing so. From the first term 
to the last, teachers should expect and obtain the 
spelling of words according to Spanish custom. 

Suitable questions. Question-and-answer in Span- 
ish, as a form of oral practice, is excellent pro- 
cedure and a plan widely used. Much care, how- 
ever, should be taken with young pupils, as to the 
form of the questions the teacher asks. With them 
it is well first to employ principally that form of 
question the answer to which will consist of the same 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 159 

words with necessary variations of word order for 
the declarative sentence of the answer or, possibly, 
with a change in person or number of the verb. 
<?Se fue el muchacho en seguida? Si, sefior, el 
muchacho se fue en seguida. 1 Ira Vd. a verle? 
Si, seiiorita, ire a verle. Then probably next in 
order should be practiced interrogations with £ Que? 
I Quien ? 1 (A or en) donde ? i Como ? i Cuando ? 
iCufil(es)? etc. <iPorque? may properly be con- 
sidered the most difficult type of question, since it 
requires investigation and, sometimes, close reason- 
ing. The next step after questions of this sort is 
the use of directions (commands) such as : Describa 
Vd. la casa de Miguel. Diga algo de la madre de 
Josefa. De un resumen de lo que aqui se dice. 

Flash cards. Have you ever used flash cards ? 
They add great interest to the recitation, quicken 
and automatize reaction, deepen impressions, in 
short, afford an excellent means of drill. You can 
make them yourself or have a pupil make them. Use 
thin, tough cardboard, and have the lettering large 
enough to be read easily from any part of the room. 
On the back of each, for the teacher's convenience, 
should be written the same material that is on the 
front of the card. Ingenuity will suggest countless 
ways of preparing material for this purpose. Several 
series will be found necessary in order to get the 
greatest benefits from this scheme. Blanks to be 
filled (with interrogatives, demonstratives, relatives, 
prepositions, verbs, adjectives, etc.), numbers to be 
read, added, subtracted, or multiplied, nouns, ad- 
jectives, or sentences to be pluralized or singularized, 



160 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

short sentences to be translated or changed as to 
tense, and so forth, are a few of the devices possible. 
The teacher holds the cards in a pack before the class, 
quickly transfers to the front of the pack the one in 
the back, selects (in seating order or otherwise) an 
individual to answer, allows no hesitation, interrup- 
tions, or prompting in the answering, and calls on 
each member of the class at least twice. This rapid 
work should, of course, be followed for only a part 
of a period, as it is highly fatiguing to both pupils 
and teacher. 

Cardinal numerals. In teaching cardinal nu- 
merals, let the pupil walk across the room and have 
him count aloud in Spanish his steps. Or have the 
class count in concert. The wall calendar is not 
only useful in teaching the date, the days, and the 
months, but affords a good basis for " number 
work " in Spanish. The figures of the calendar may 
be used as the multiplicands in giving orally say the 
multiplication table of 2's or 3's. Or the numbers 
may be added by vertical columns. Or in a class of 
young children ten may be chosen and named with 
the first ten cardinal numbers. They stand before 
the class in order and repeat their " names " for- 
ward and backward. Then the class repeats them. 
Then they are written on the board. Children 
should be led to read numbers in Spanish wher- 
ever they see them, for example, on room doors, car 
transfers, automobile licenses. They should be told 
to count their steps as they walk along the street, 
or as they go up stairways. Girls who knit might 
count in Spanish their stitches. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS l6l 

Variants and synonyms. With upper term classes 
it is excellent practice to give considerable attention 
to variants and synonyms. One method is to have a 
passage reread and synonyms substituted for pre- 
viously indicated expressions. This may be done 
in both reading and composition work. Another 
way to handle the matter is to assign to each student 
a paragraph, or a portion of one, with directions to 
make substitutions (oral or written) for as many verbs 
as he can, or adjectives or adverbs. Or the same 
paragraph may be assigned to three or four in- 
dividuals, one changing one part of speech and the 
others changing other parts. All this work should, 
of course, be done without materially changing the 
sense of the original. Such work leads the student 
away from the idea, so often held, that there is but 
one way to express a given thought in the foreign 
language. Of course the more advanced a class is, 
the more successfully and profitably can such work 
be done. But even in some of the lower terms a 
beginning can be made at this helpful kind of activity. 
A related plan is to substitute antonyms instead of 
synonyms for indicated expressions. 

Concert work. Group activity, group power, and, 
to a good extent, individual power — especially for 
the timid pupil — is developed by concert work 
that is done in complete unison and under strict 
control. Not every teacher can successfully conduct 
concert recitation. But for the teacher who can do 
so, many ways are open for effecting concert drill; 
for example, in the repetition by the class of verbs 
conjugated in phrases, in counting aloud, and in 



162 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

giving in unison type sentences of the grammar lesson. 
Concert answers are unwise unless they be the repe- 
tition of answers or statements first made correctly 
by some one individual. Concert reading of prose 
is successful with some classes but a waste of time 
with others. If it takes considerable time to develop 
unison in reading prose, the attempt would better 
be abandoned. 

Foolish questions. If you know that you hold 
your class in the hollow of your hand, try asking them 
foolish questions in Spanish based on sentence or 
paragraph units of the lesson. Thus, a pupil reads : 
Los caballos comen heno y las gallinas comen avena. 
Ask the pupil: £Come Vd. heno? £ Come Vd. 
gallinas? i Comen los caballos a las gallinas? 
This plan, if not used too frequently, makes interest 
keen and tests in a very certain manner under- 
standing of oral questions. When such questions 
are asked with apparent seriousness, first will be 
noticed amazement or puzzled expressions. Then 
as the light breaks, a smile comes and the pupil has a 
feeling of satisfaction in knowing that he did under- 
stand rightly after all, though at first he " could not 
believe his ears ". 

Secretary's reports. A variation of the usual 
method of conducting a class is that afforded by a 
semi-parliamentary procedure in which the teacher 
acts as chairman and a secretary is appointed to 
take down in Spanish the incidents of the session 
of the class. These minutes are read at the next 
meeting and corrections are made. The several 
members of the class may do this in turn. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 163 

Perceiving the pupil's difficulty. It is sometimes 
hard to ascertain the root cause of a pupil's error, 
even when he takes the pains to try to explain what 
is troubling his soul. Patience, sympathy, searching 
questions, forceful and concise explanations are 
needed to clear up a pupil's incomprehension or 
miscomprehension of a point. Be it remarked, de 
pasoy that language teachers born and trained abroad 
are apt, naturally, to be weaker in this respect than 
are teachers born and educated is this country. It 
is in fact at this point that we find most of the failures 
of those of our language teachers who were born and 
trained in other countries, especially among those 
who have not mastered English. 

Sentence work. Suppose the lesson of the day 
consists of the translation of English sentences into 
Spanish. (Let us hope that they are connected in 
thought and based on preceding Spanish models.) 
The sentences will have been prepared beforehand 
by the pupils, either by study, without writing, of 
what the Spanish version should be, or by writing 
them out in full. The class appears. The teacher 
directs that the papers, if there are any, be turned 
face downwards in the book and the book closed. 
The teacher gives orally the English sentence. The 
pupil called on gives orally the Spanish for it. If 
incorrect, others are called on until the correct form 
is given. The pupil giving it correctly steps to the 
board and writes the sentence. This work is done 
in a lively manner until all the sentences have been 
written in this way. The teacher stands in the rear 
of the room and reads the sentences silently, with- 



164 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

out comment, except in case of errors. Variants 
may be suggested by pupils. Then the paper 
work is exchanged and compared with that on the 
board. Is not this obviously a better plan of action 
than it is to have the pupils go to the board and write 
the sentences by translating direct from their books 
or copying from their papers ? Incidentally, it pre- 
vents unfair copying of sentences done as " home 
work". 

Another method of doing sentence work in such a 
way as to apply the grammatical principles of the 
day's lesson is to collect prepared written work and 
send the entire class to the board. The teacher 
then dictates slowly in English short, impromptu 
sentences incorporating the principles of grammar, 
and the pupils write at once the Spanish for each 
English sentence. Pupils exchange places and cor- 
rect each other's work. The teacher quickly re- 
views the work and the corrections. 

The use of pause. Let not the strenuous teacher 
of Spanish who believes in great activity in the class- 
room on the part of the class and himself, fail to 
take into account the value of frequent pauses in 
his onward-rushing recitation. The teacher, no less 
than the actor, becomes several degrees more effective 
when he checks his rush of words and thus breaks 
the monotony of his utterance. A pause for a 
statement to " sink in " ; a pause to give the student 
a chance to think before replying; a pause to give 
himself sufficient time to organize his procedure 
and to recall what his'particular aim is in the lesson 
at which he is working so hard; a pause to see 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 165 

whether the pupils are doing as much as he himself 
is. A "change of speed' is as desirable and as 
helpful to the language teacher as to the baseball 
pitcher. 

Diaries kept in Spanish. The members of the 
class may be required to keep a diary in Spanish of 
their activities in and out of school for say a week, 
and one session per week may be devoted to the 
reading, discussion, and correction of the entries 
made. This scheme creates interest and gives a 
practical turn to the work. 

Realia and illustrative material. We should never 
lose sight of the fact that great advantage is derived 
from the use of realia, " the real things " of the foreign 
country. It is sometimes difficult to obtain Spanish 
realia and illustrative material without a visit to 
Spain. Some find it easier, however, to secure 
from friends in South or Central America such 
objects. 1 Some of those things that can be secured 
with a little effort are calendars, posters and post- 
card views, postcard and other reproductions of 
Spanish paintings (of which Spain has produced so 
many for the delectation of the world), sets of coins 
and postage stamps of Spanish lands, samples of 
the natural products (especially of Spanish America), 
samples of the smaller, but characteristic, manu- 
factured products of Spain (such as pottery, silver 
filigree work, the Damascene jewelry of Toledo and 
Eibar), and magazines and newspapers of Spain 
and South America. He who has visited Spain 
will save for classroom use such things as street 

1 See Chapter XVII for further suggestions in this respect. 



1 66 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

car and bus tickets (given as receipts on payment 
of fare), tickets of admission to galleries and museums 
(where one is permitted often to retain a portion of 
the pasteboard), and trifles like match boxes, theat- 
rical programs, and bull-fight tickets, and, mayhap, 
a magnolia or pomegranate blossom plucked within 
the sacred precincts of the Alhambra or the Genera- 
life and pressed and preserved. These " real things " 
arouse tremendous interest and help the student 
to visualize the life and customs of Spain or Chile 
or Mexico, as the case may be. 1 

Visiting. Do you get about your own building 
and see what your fellow teachers of Spanish and 
related departments are doing ? Or are you going 
on from day to day and from year to year without 
the help and inspiration that come from seeing 
how some one else meets the same problems and 
performs the same tasks that you have? Why 
not make it a point to visit other teachers at least 
twice a week, sometimes within the Spanish De- 
partment, sometimes in the Latin, French, or English 
Department ? In any of these classes, whether 
taught by tyros or experts, you will doubtless find 
more to approve and to profit from than to condemn. 
Few, if any, teachers object to being visited ; rather, 
the effect is usually equally good, and pleasantly 
so, upon the visitor and the teacher visited. It 
is surprising how it takes us out of our ruts to visit 

1 See report of the Committee on Aims and Scope of Realien 
(geography, history, and institutions) of the New York State 
Modern Language Association, published in the Bulletin of 
that association, November, 1917; Spanish section, pp. 14-17. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 1 67 

some other instructor. The principal, or the chair- 
man of department, whose chief function it is to 
visit, criticize, and suggest, knows that he himself 
gets a great deal of personal help from his daily- 
visits in the rooms of his teachers. 

Idioms. Idiomatic expressions, so numerous and 
often so complex in Spanish, should have special 
attention throughout the course. They should be 
memorized, manipulated, and practiced constantly. 
One method consists of the selection by the teacher 
of verbal idioms from the reading text. These 
are then recorded by the pupils, in the infinitive 
forms, in an idiom book. In groups of ten or so 
they are memorized and worked over and over. 
At a later recitation period, a ten-minute written 
test is given on these idioms. The test may be, 
for instance, of this nature : The expression is dic- 
tated in the infinitive form in Spanish and the stu- 
dents are required to compose original sentences 
containing the idioms in a specified tense or mood. 
Or the teacher may compose and dictate in English 
short sentences to be translated into Spanish, each 
of which will require the use of one of the idioms in 
question. 

Word-grouping and cognates to English. In 
assigning reading, pupils may be required to find 
a certain number of words that have the same stem 
as a word selected by the teacher. Or they will 
make a list of Spanish words that have English 
cognates. Or they will prepare a list of words — 
say nouns — which are concerned with some activity 
to which allusion is made in the reading, such as : 



1 68 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

going hunting, renting a house, or taking a street- 
car ride. 

At the window. Send a pupil to the window 
to tell the class in Spanish what he sees outside. 
He names a few objects readily enough and then 
stops. Then comes a mental search for Spanish 
names of other objects. The teacher gives help 
judiciously or sends another pupil to continue the 
list. Finally, all the members are sent to the win- 
dow to compete with each other in writing on slips 
of paper as many Spanish names of things they see 
as possible. The one having the largest list wins. 

To test quickly the entire class. Si Vd. puede 
contestar bien a la pregunta, pongase de pie, says 
the teacher when he desires to know what members 
of the class are or are not following the work with 
attention and profit. If not used overmuch, this 
device has the advantage of making more acute 
the pupil's realization either of his success or failure 
in doing the class work. 

Correction of prose work. When translation 
from English into Spanish is placed on the board, 
little attention need be paid to the English of the 
book, much to the Spanish on the board. The 
student may read aloud the Spanish he has written. 
Suggestions are then made by the other pupils and 
the teacher. The one who wrote the work is then 
sent back to make the corrections agreed upon. 
The teacher should make a second rapid examina- 
tion to see that all corrections have been made. 

Use of the Bible in Spanish classes. Most of our 
pupils are familiar with some portions of the Bible. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 1 69 

« 

Some of them have had extensive training in it. 
The Old Testament may be used without objection 
from any of the parents of these pupils. In classes 
whose members are all Gentiles, the New Testament, 
as well as the Old, may be used. And in this way. 
A Spanish edition of the Bible is easily obtained 
(from the American Bible Society, if from no other 
source). Select passages which are widely familiar 
because of their beauty or philosophy. After read- 
ing the English version of the 23d Psalm, the Ser- 
mon on the Mount, St. Paul's chapter to the Co- 
rinthians on charity, or a similar passage, read the 
Spanish version of the same selection. Then dic- 
tate it and have it committed to memory. Urge 
those who are students of the Bible to make use of 
the Spanish version constantly in the preparation 
of their Sunday School lessons and in private study. 
It is remarkable how much Spanish may be ac- 
quired in this way. Familiar thoughts expressed in 
Spanish help greatly to an understanding and ac- 
quirement of that tongue. 

Repetition of corrections. In no branch of high 
school study is it so necessary to adhere to the good 
old proverb repetitio mater est studiorum as in teach- 
ing and learning a modern language. When a 
student gives an incorrect sentence in the foreign 
language and is corrected by his fellow-student or 
by the teacher, the first student should always be 
required to repeat correctly the sentence, usually 
several times. Then the entire class should repeat 
it in concert. Careless pronunciations should like- 
wise be corrected by much repetition of the correct 



170 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

pronunciation. There is this great value in repe- 
tition : it forms correct speech habits and makes 
them automatic, if and when the thing repeated is 
given in its proper form. 

Oral translation from hearing. The students 
close their books. The teacher or, in more ad- 
vanced classes, a student who reads Spanish well, 
stands before the class and reads a paragraph of 
the reading lesson which has already been prepared. 
(In higher classes material from the advance lesson, 
not yet prepared, or passages from a text that the 
pupils are not familiar with, may be used.) The 
paragraph is reread, one sentence or clause at a 
time, and pupils are called upon to give the mean- 
ing thereof in English. The aim should be to give 
the thought, not a literal translation. This device 
trains the ear and develops comprehension of a 
thought expressed as a whole in Spanish. This is 
a particularly good scheme as a preliminary step 
to writing at dictation. The same passage may be 
used the following day for dictation purposes. 

Questioning in Spanish extended to include the 
pupil's experiences. In the treatment of the read- 
ing lesson it is quite customary for the teacher to 
ask and the pupil to answer questions put in Spanish 
concerning the form or content of the paragraph 
read. This is a good form of oral practice and, if 
properly handled, the lesson may be developed 
without much recourse to English. This question- 
ing may, and frequently should, be amplified in 
such a way as to lead the pupil to discuss in the 
vocabulary of the lesson his own experiences. Thus : 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 171 

Suppose the paragraph relates how Jorge became 
acquainted with Juan. After asking questions bring- 
ing out the chief circumstances and thus testing the 
pupil's comprehension of what he has read, ask 
him such questions as: ^Conoce Vd. a Juan? 
^Tiene Vd. muchos conocidos? <:Le conoce a 
Vd. el director de este colegio? <:A quien quisiera 
Vd. conocer? iQne diria Vd. en espanol para 
presentar una persona a otra? <?Que diria Vd. al 
ser presentado al seiior Blanco? And so forth. 
Care must be taken to suit the questions to the 
pupil's vocabulary and to his probable experience 
in life. This kind of work should be done with 
considerable liveliness and variation. When so used 
it will vitalize and lend interest to the class work. 

Inter-class visiting. Once or twice each half- 
year it is well to have upper-term students visit 
lower-term classes in Spanish. The idea is peda- 
gogically sound. Among the benefits of this prac- 
tice that may be enumerated are the following : 
(1) The older pupils are encouraged on seeing that 
the work of the lower class seems now so simple. 
They feel that they have made progress. (2) The 
younger pupils are put upon their mettle to show 
their more advanced fellow-students what they are 
capable of doing. (3) The interest of all the pupils 
is much augmented by this contact. (4) An esprit 
de corps within the Spanish Department is aroused 
among both teachers and pupils. The members of 
the higher classes may be asked to make in Spanish 
a report upon their visit and to give suggestions for 
the improvement of the work with the young pupils. 



172 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Of course the higher class may and should be divided 
into three or four groups of visitors so that the lower 
classes may not be crowded. 

It may be desirable also to have the lower classes 
visit the higher occasionally, though it seems prob- 
able that not so much benefit may be obtained for 
all in this way, as the work of the advanced class 
is likely to be above the comprehension of the ele- 
mentary pupils. Intervisiting of classes of the 
same grade but having different teachers is another 
phase of this plan which is worthy of consideration. 

Probably next to the intervisiting of teachers, 
the intervisiting of classes will do most to unify 
and consolidate the work of the Spanish Depart- 
ment. 

Verb nomenclature in Spanish. It is usually 
desirable to use in naming the tenses of a foreign 
language the terminology employed by the native 
speakers of that language. In the teaching of 
Spanish there arises, however, a difficulty in this 
respect that is two-fold. First, the nomenclature 
used in the Gramdtica de la Real Academia is very 
complicated and not in consonance with that used 
in other languages. Second, the terms used in 
other standard grammars, such as the Bello-Cuervo, 
do not conform to those used in the Academy Gram- 
mar or in any other book and are likewise unwieldy 
and out of harmony with the terms used in other 
languages. Hence, it has been desirable, if not 
absolutely necessary, here in the United States to 
establish a new and different set of terminology 
with respect to Spanish verbs. The aim sought 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 173 

has been simplicity and uniformity. The more 
recent textbooks produced in this country, as well 
as the frequently accepted but not officially recog- 
nized usage in certain circles in Spain, favor the 
following nomenclature : Infinitivo, gerundio, parti- 
cipio pasivo. Modo indicativo — Tiempos simples: 
presente, imperfecto, preterite, futuro, condicional; 
Tiempos compuestos : perf ecto, pluscuamperf ecto, 
preterite perfecto, futuro perfecto, condicional per- 
fecto. Modo subjuntivo — Tiempos simples : pre- 
sente, imperfecto (dos formas), futuro; Tiempos 
compuestos : perfecto, pluscuamperfecto (dos for- 
mas), futuro perfecto. Modo imperativo. Voz ac- 
tiva o pasiva. 

A Spanish teacher who lost his voice. A heavy 
cold and then laryngitis. The teacher lost his voice 
for a week but decided to retain charge of his classes 
as no substitute teacher could be secured. He ap- 
pointed a pupil-teacher in each class. He wrote 
directions on the blackboard. The usual amount of 
work was assigned and accomplished. This week 
the students did all the talking. The teacher 
though always present was very much in the back- 
ground. And yet when he gave the usual test on 
the week's work the results averaged considerably 
higher than in the preceding weeks ! That teacher 
thereupon made a firm resolution which he has 
kept ever since. He talks now very much less than 
do his pupils. Al buen entendedor, . . . 

Tests. Tests in language work should be fre- 
quent and short and, at least with younger classes, 
should be based entirely upon the work actually 



174 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

done in the classroom. We are all inclined to make 
tests too long and too involved. " Tests for power " 
should be but very gradually introduced and only 
in the highest classes should they be an important 
feature of the testing system. A written review 
of fifteen to twenty minutes covering the chief points 
of the week's work might be given each Friday. 
Papers should always be returned to the pupils with 
corrections carefully noted. The corrected paper 
should, at least occasionally, be rewritten and 
filed with the teacher or kept in a loose-leaf notebook. 
Tests should, of course, conform in their methods 
of approach, of statement or query to those used 
in the daily work of the class. In the writer's 
opinion, a final term-mark should be the composite, in 
equal proportions, of the average of daily recitation 
marks and the average of the weekly or bi-weekly 
class tests. Formal half-yearly examinations might 
well be excluded from the testing system of the 
Junior High School work in Spanish, but should 
certainly have a place in the four-year High School 
and in the Senior High School, where their chief 
value is that they compel both teacher and pupils 
to review the term's work and thus effect a recalling, 
a better perspective, and a better organization of 
the work accomplished. But the course in Spanish 
in any type of high school should provide for brief 
and frequent written reviews or tests. 

Unexpected translation tests. Some of us have 
gone to the extreme of putting a ban on all trans- 
lation from the foreign language into English. Let's 
not be extremists in the use of any method. Trans- 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 1 75 

lation is beyond doubt a useful exercise, especially 
for the more advanced pupils. And much depends, 
of course, upon the way the matter is handled. One 
of the ways of using translation as a factor in the 
class work is to give occasionally unexpected trans- 
lation tests or exercises. A page or half page of the 
reading lesson may be assigned for written transla- 
tion during the first half of the recitation. This is 
a test both for thoroughness of preparation and for 
thoroughness of comprehension of the day's reading 
text. 

A test for aural comprehension. It is a good plan 
to have one pupil in each of the advanced classes 
prepare frequently a short speech in Spanish. This 
is previously reviewed and corrected by the teacher. 
The pupil then stands before the class and in the 
first three or four minutes of the recitation delivers 
his little "speech"". Each member of the class is 
held responsible for the reproduction of one sentence 
from this speech. These are rapidly reproduced 
orally, or some of the class write on the board the 
sentences they have caught while the rest are giving 
theirs orally. 

Selecting the bright students for answering. 
Spare the bright students ! Don't overwork them, 
— especially when a visitor comes to the class. It 
is not the bright student who needs the benefit of 
drill, of reciting. The slow, uncertain ones are 
those who should receive the most of the teacher's 
attention. Use the clever student to help the slow 
one, in the recitation and out of it. Of course the 
gifted pupil should not be discouraged by neglect 



176 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

on the part of the teacher, but he seldom runs that 
risk. The skillful teacher will know how to corre- 
late the work of the brilliant and the plodding so 
as to give the proper amount of help to each. Here 
is a problem worthy of the best thought of every 
modern language teacher. 

Teaching objectively the names of parts of the 
body. The teacher points to the nose, the cheek, 
the arm, the wrist, etc., and says : la nariz, la 
mejilla, el brazo, la muneca, etc. Again the teacher 
points, this time in silence, and a pupil gives the 
Spanish for the part indicated. Then the class does 
the same in concert. Then a boy calls upon another 
boy to point out the nose, the cheek, etc., when 
the first boy gives the Spanish names. Then the 
class in unison point out silently the parts when 
they are named in Spanish by a pupil or the teacher. 
A doll may be used in this work. 

New words. New Spanish words are, of course, 
best learned in connection with words already 
known, that is, as parts of a sentence unit. But 
to' fix them in the mind so that they may be recalled 
and used at will, it is not sufficient to form their 
acquaintance merely by meeting them once or twice 
or even several times in the reading lesson. The 
more important words of the Spanish vocabulary 
should be used, and the more they are used naturally 
the better are they known. New words of common 
occurrence and connation may well be noted in a book 
kept by the student. They should be used in 
original sentences by the pupils, either the day 
they are first found or the following day. Some- 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 177 

times it is a good plan, when such a notebook is 
kept by the class, to review, in some one of various 
ways, the new words learned during the previous 
week. 

Maps. We all know the desirability of the 
presence and use in the classroom of maps of the 
country whose language we are teaching. But it 
is not always easy to secure good maps of those 
countries, particularly of Spain or of Spanish- 
American lands. What may then be done for a 
map ? Answer : Have the pupils draw a map of 
the foreign land as a part of the work of the recita- 
tion period or of the supervised study period. They 
will find great interest in doing this ; they will learn 
a very great deal about the geography of the coun- 
try and the spelling of the Spanish names. Some 
really excellent maps will also result for the use of 
future classes. 

Heading for written work. When a pupil is sent 
to the blackboard to write a piece of work or when 
he prepares written home work, is it not a good 
plan to have him place above his exercise a heading 
in Spanish ? This should consist of something like 
the following : 

Yo me llamo Pedro Smith. 

A quince de diciembre de mil novecientos 
diez y siete. 
Clase de espanol numero 213. 

This scheme provides drill in writing dates correctly, 
makes for uniformity and neatness in written work, 
and incidentally automatizes " Yo me llamo " and 



178 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

the given name in Spanish, if the name has a Spanish 
equivalent. 

Phonograph records in teaching Spanish. A few 
language schools have prepared records in the Spanish 
language l to be used in correspondence courses or 
as accessory aids in class work. These records are 
usually very distinct and correct. They are par- 
ticularly helpful to the teacher who lacks the op- 
portunity of associating with Spaniards and yet 
desires to perfect his pronunciation of Spanish. 
Such records may also be used with profit in a be- 
ginning class. The children follow with great 
interest the words of the record and find pleasure 
in understanding or trying to understand them. 
It is not advisable, however, to write the words on 
the board. Let the pupils get them "by ear ". 
Have them repeat the words, imitating as closely 
as possible the pronunciation and the intonation 
given by the speaker whose voice is reproduced by 
the phonograph. While they cannot " talk back 
to the machine, they will hear very correct Spanish 
which they will imitate with profit. 

Pupils describe the teacher's actions. An inter- 
esting and practical sort of exercise consists in having 
a pupil tell in Spanish what the teacher is doing, 
thus : Vd. entra en la sala. Vd. se acerca a la silla 
y se sienta. Ahora Vd. escribe en la pizarra la 
fecha y ahora se vuelve a sentar, and so on. Or 
the entire class may write such a description as a 
part of their composition exercise. The teacher 
should then, of course, move about slowly. This 

1 See Chapter XVII for suggestions concerning these records. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 179 

scheme will be particularly effective in a class 
brought up on the series units described for use in 
the early terms of the Junior High School. 

Sketching. Fortunate is the Spanish teacher 
who is apt in making rapidly on the board good 
sketches of the object or situation that is being 
discussed in Spanish. These sketches provide an 
effective method of direct appeal and of forcible, 
unmistakable illustration. Often, in teaching pro- 
nunciation, a rapidly made drawing of the position 
of the speech organs in forming certain sounds — as, 
for instance, intervocalic d — will be very helpful. 

Terminology. If the books you use are lacking 
in the terminology necessary for any of the practical 
uses you would Tike to make of Spanish in the class- 
room (grammatical terms, commands, etc.), why 
not, especially if you are in charge of a department 
of Spanish, or of modern languages, work out care- 
fully such a body of terminology in Spanish and 
hand copies of it to other teachers ? There should 
be uniformity in a department in this matter of 
stock expressions used. 

Spanish plays. Plays in Spanish, when given 
occasionally in public, are good practice for a few 
students, and they awaken much interest in the 
entire body of students of the language. But are 
they the best way to interest pupils in this valuable 
kind of language activity ? Does a play thus given 
afford experience to a sufficiently large group of 
students and in a degree commensurate with the 
great labor required, usually of one or two teachers ? 
Would not brief plays prepared by each class and 



180 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

given as a part of the classroom work be of more 
real benefit to all? 1 Even beginning classes can 
dramatize, with the teacher's help, short stories 
or anecdotes of the reader and will show intense 
interest in this kind of applied dramatics. In upper 
classes, pupils will enjoy " putting on M before the 
others sections of the play they may be reading. Or 
brief original plays or sketches, based on some in- 
cident of the classroom or school life, may be com- 
posed and presented by a committee elected by the 
class or appointed by the teacher. 

Reproduction, written and oral. It is doubtful 
whether we do enough reproduction of material 
studied. And yet this kind of activity has very 
great value. A short anecdote may be read or, 
preferably, related, in Spanish by the teacher, who 
speaks only at moderate speed and with very clear 
enunciation. He uses very simple language. The 
students hear the story but once and are not per- 
mitted to make any notes. They then write it, 
being given a certain number of minutes in which 
to do so. Or one student is sent to the board at the 
rear of the room to write out the story while others 
give it orally. Or the story is reproduced orally 
by two or three members of the class. Or, in the 
beginning stage of the work, the story may be re- 

1 The situation is similar to that which exists in college 
athletics, in which the aim has been to produce " star " players 
for a " star " team in football or baseball, while the vast majority 
of the students devote only a couple of hours a week to physical 
training. It is noteworthy that some universities now require 
the participation of all students in a major or minor sport and 
have arranged for inter-class and inter-squad competitions. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 181 

produced in English. These anecdotes or stories 
should be called for again a day or so later. 

Pupils record their ratings themselves. Suppose 
rapid oral drill of some kind is being given. Each 
pupil writes his name on a slip of paper. When he 
recites the teacher gives him a rating on the basis 
say of 10 and the pupil writes this mark, " seis ", 
" ocho ", etc., on his slip. Working fast, the teacher 
gets through the class several times. Then the 
pupils average their marks and hand their slips to 
a monitor who collects them. This little scheme 
creates interest when used occasionally and gives 
the teacher a basis for the daily mark, should he 
wish to give one. Seldom will a pupil be found dis- 
honest in recording his ratings when he is thus put 
upon his honor. 

Use of written questions. In higher classes 
questions in Spanish to be answered in Spanish 
at the next recitation may be dictated at the begin- 
ning of the period. These are based on the reading 
of the next day. The plot and the characters may 
be discussed in this way. At the next session of the 
class a few pupils go to the board to write their 
answers, while others give theirs orally. 

The use of cards in assigning board work. This 
is a device rather widely used and, if not overworked, 
is highly commendable. Its chief virtue consists 
in that it is a time saver. It needs but the briefest, 
if any, description. The teacher prepares, pref- 
erably on library cards, sets of exercises of various 
kinds to go with each grammar lesson or to review 
points of the reading work or the composition lesson. 



182 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

The class appears. The teacher, without a waste 
of words or time, hands out these cards to selected 
individuals, who at once step to the board, do the 
work indicated on the card, leave the cards near 
the work, and take seats. Meanwhile the teacher 
has gone ahead with other work with the remainder 
of the class at their seats. At a proper time the 
board work is examined. This makes for a great 
saving of time, while also making it possible for a 
teacher to shape the text to the needs of the class. 
Incidentally, it provides a very good way to do re- 
view work, as the cards are kept and filed and are 
ready for service whenever the teacher desires. Old 
or discarded textbooks may be cut up and portions 
pasted on cards, thus saving the work of writing out 
the material. 

To drill on ordinal numerals. The teacher says, 
Yo soy el primero. <:Quien es Vd. ? The pupil 
called upon says, Yo soy el segundo. <;Quien es 
Vd. ?, pointing out another member of the class. 
And so on. Care must be taken to have the girls 
give the feminine forms of the article and ordinal 
in replying. This little game is interesting and 
helpful in acquirement of ready and correct use of 
the ordinals. 

Standards and measurements. Did you ever 
attempt to work out for the various terms of your 
Spanish classes, beginning with the first, a set of 
definite things that should be expected of a student 
upon the completion of each term of work ? It is 
not an easy thing to do in language work, but it is 
worth while. Then, upon the material decided upon 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 183 

as the standard, your examinations for promotion, 
that is, your measurements, are set. Our work in 
modern languages is indefinite as compared with 
that which may be outlined in, say, mathematics, 
but certain fundamentals do exist and upon them 
definite standards can and should be reared. 

Correlation of departments. Have you ever done 
anything to correlate the Spanish course with that 
of other departments ? Have you ever held joint 
conferences with the English, History, French, 
Latin, or Commercial teachers? Can you not per- 
suade the History department of your school to 
devote, in connection with the course in American 
History, some three or four weeks to the study of 
Hispanic America ? (That is, if you are not so 
fortunate as to have already established a year's 
course in South American history.) Are there not 
definite ways in which you may aid the teaching of 
English in your school ? Will not the English de- 
partment be willing to assign to the students of 
Spanish theme topics based upon the history of 
Spain, our commerce with Argentina, or the peoples 
of Bolivia ? Possibly you can work out a course 
in Spanish stenography to be given jointly, if neces- 
sary, by teachers of Spanish and teachers of stenog- 
raphy. Possibly the Latin, French, and Spanish 
teachers could profitably consider together the 
teaching of verbs or how best to aid the student who 
is studying two of the three languages mentioned. 
These are the days of " team work ", of correlated, 
united effort. Pedagogues, no less than men of 
affairs, should practice cooperation. 



1 84 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Specific directions for study. It is a great help 
to put into the hands of the students of Spanish 
specific directions as to how to prepare the different 
types of work. This is particularly advisable in a 
school in which no provision is made for supervised 
study ; but in any school a printed slip giving sug- 
gestions as to methods of attack in preparing Spanish 
lessons and pasted on the inside cover of the Spanish 
grammar, for example, will be most useful. The 
following may be considered a fairly good example 
of a slip usea for this purpose. 1 



HOW TO STUDY SPANISH 

A. Vocabulary. With careful pronunciation read 
aloud the Spanish words and their English meanings. 
Try to fix the word in your mind if possible by a similar 
word in English or other language you may have 
studied. Cover the English words and write on a 
narrow slip of paper the English for as many of the 
Spanish words as you can recall. Then check up your 
work from the book, filling in any blanks. On the 
other side of the slip write from memory the Spanish 
equivalents, checking up as before. Close the book. 
Hold the slip in your hand. Looking at the Spanish 
side say the English meanings. A turn of the wrist 
will give you any word you do not recall. Continue 
until it is unnecessary to turn the slip. Then take 
the English side and proceed in the same way until 

1 Used in the Department of Spanish of DeWitt Clinton High 
School, New York City. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 185 

you can give the Spanish for each English word with- 
out having to turn the paper. Practice putting into 
short sentences the words you have now mastered. 

B. Grammar. Read carefully any explanation of 
a point in grammar. Try to understand it clearly. 
Do not memorize the rule. You should memorize 
one or more examples given. In other words, remem- 
ber the rule by the example. In learning conjugations 
of verbs, first read them aloud, thinking their English 
equivalents. Write them out, referring to the book if 
necessary. Say them aloud and write them until the 
book is useless. Practice putting these verb forms into 
sentences that you yourself make up. 

C. Reading. 1. Read aloud the Spanish para- 
graph, trying to understand it as you would English 
(without translating). 

2. Go back over the paragraph and try to get the 
meaning of an unknown word or phrase from the 
general idea of the sentences — just as you would in 
reading English. Consult vocabulary only as a last 
resort. 

3. Should you at times be given a passage to trans- 
late, make your translation into absolutely clear, idio- 
matic English. Do not translate word for word. 
Seek out the thought of the Spanish sentence; then 
express that thought in English words that are well 
chosen and in sentences that are correctly con- 
structed. 

4. The final test of your knowledge of a reading 
lesson will be your ability to talk and write about it in 
Spanish, to answer in Spanish questions put in Spanish 
about what you have read or to give a summary in 
Spanish of a paragraph or page. Therefore practice 
telling the story to yourself. 

D. Drill. Continually practice speaking and 



l86 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

thinking in Spanish. Drill yourself more than the 
teacher can drill you. By long hours of patient prac- 
tice the musician trains his fingers and the athlete 
trains his muscles. There is no royal road to mastery 
of Spanish. You will need the same faithful practice 
as the musician or the athlete. Train your ear to 
hear Spanish, your tongue to speak it, your eye to read 
it, your mind to think it. Hold conversations with 
yourself about matters of daily interest ; say in Spanish 
the numbers you see here and there; the date of the 
newspaper, the time of day. Imagine yourself in a 
Spanish country and think out expressions you would 
have to use at home and at school. Do this day after 
day. Drill yourself constantly. 

Physical training exercises in Spanish. In many 
schools setting-up exercises are given in the class 
rooms at intervals during the day. On the principle 
that Spanish should be used as much as possible in 
the class room and to add interest to the occasion, 
the commands for these exercises may be given in 
Spanish. Here is a good opportunity to train in 
instantaneous muscular reactions in response to 
stimuli expressed in Spanish. The teacher may give 
these commands or appoint a member of the class 
to give them. The following set of expressions 1 
will, it is believed, be found useful and easily adapted 
to the needs of various schools. The counting that 
may be necessary for the proper performance of some 
of these exercises should, of course, be done in 
Spanish. 

1 Suggested by Dr. Guillermo A. Sherwell, New Utrecht High 
School, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 



187 



Voz preventiva Voz ejecutiva 

\ Atencion ! jEn pie ! 

jFirmes! (jCuerpo 
derecho! \ Vista al 
frente! jBarba 
recogida!) 

jlnspirar! 

jExpirar! 

jDerecha! 

jlizquierda! 

jDerecha! 

j Marchen! 

jPosicion! 

{Marchen! 

jMarchen! 

I Marchen! 
jPosicion! 

j Marchen! 
jlnspirar! 
jExpirar! 
jSentados! 

Parliamentary expressions. In a class organized 
and conducted according to parliamentary rules or in 
the Spanish club of the school, the following outlines 
of procedure * may be found suggestive or helpful. 

1 Prepared by Dr. Guillermo A. Sherwell, New Utrecht High 
School, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



jFlanco derecho! 
jFlanco izquierdo! 
j Media vuelta! 
jTomar sus distancias! 
jManos en las caderas! 
jFlexion sobre las rodillas en 

ocho tiempos ! 
jFlexion sobre la cintura hacia 

adelante en ocho tiempos! 
jLevantarse sobre las puntas 

de los pies en ocho tiempos! 
jManos sobre los hombros! 
jLevantar las manos sobre la 

cabeza en ocho tiempos! 



88 



SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 



El presidente : — Se abre la sesion. 

— El secretario dard lectura al 
acta de la sesion anterior. 

— <?Hay alguna observation que 
hacer al acta? 

— I No hay quien pida la pala- 
bra? 

— Los que aprueben el acta se 
serviran indicarlo levantando 
la mano derecha. 

— Los de opinion contraria se 
serviran indicarlo de la misma 
manera. 

— El acta estd aprobada por 
mayoria (o unanimidad) de 
votos. 

— Pido la palabra. 

— Tiene la palabra el seiior 
Mathews. 

— Propongo que . . . 

— Secundo la mocion. 

— Estd a discusion la mocion 
del seiior Mathews. <iSe 
considera suficientemente 
discutida la mocion? 

— Propongo que se cierre la 
discusion. 

— Se va a tomar la votacion 
economica (o por cedulas). 

— El secretario dara cuenta de 
una carta (o comunicaci6n) 
que se ha recibido. 



Un socio : 

El presidente : 

El socio Mathews 
Otro socio : 
El presidente : 



Otro socio : 
El presidente 



A MISCELLANY OF SUGGESTIONS 189 

— ^Alguno de los miembros 
(o socios) desea presentar 
alguna proposition a este re- 
specto ? 

Un socio : — Propongo que se levante la 

sesion. 

El presidente : — Se levanta la sesi6n. 

Acta. 

En la Escuela Superior de New Utrecht, de la 
ciudad de Nueva York, reunidos los socios del 
circulo espafiol "Ruben Dario", a las tres de la 
tarde del dia 25 de septiembre de 1917, con el 
ob jeto de celebrar su reunion ordinaria, el presidente 
declaro abierta la sesion, a continuation de lo cual 
el secretario dio lectura al acta de la sesion anterior, 
la cual despues de discutida (o sin discusion) fue 
aprobada. Enseguida. . . . 

No habiendo otro asunto de que tratar, a las 
cuatro y media de la tarde el presidente declaro 
levantada la sesion, de la cual se extiende la presente 
acta para constancia. 

(Fecha) (Firma del secretario) 



CHAPTER XIII 

CLUB WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH 

A language department that limited its activities 
by the signal bells for the opening and closing of the 
school day would be comparable to a church body 
that confined its duties to attendance upon Sunday 
preaching services. Both organizations would be 
unaware or neglectful of one of the most useful 
services that can be rendered society, namely, the 
organization and direction of the energies of the 
young people within their sphere of influence in 
channels that are both profitable and pleasant. 

The classroom work in Spanish is supplemented, 
vitalized, and made of greater value by the existence 
in the school of a live Spanish club, a "Circulo 
Castellano " or a " Club Espanol", that holds weekly 
meetings after the close of the classes for the day. 
The chief object of this club is to provide for its 
members practice in using Spanish under more 
natural and unrestrained conditions than those 
that are found in the ordinary class meetings. Stu- 
dent officers conduct the meetings of the club. A 
teacher of Spanish will, of course, attend the club 
as the inconspicuous faculty adviser and member 
thereof, but he will be active chiefly in suggesting 
how the members may use their meetings for their 

190 



CLUB WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH 191 

own greatest advantage and pleasure. A constitu- 
tion will be adopted and dues collected say of fifty- 
cents a year. Parliamentary procedure, in Spanish, 
will be the form in which the meetings are usually 
conducted. Sessions should be held in the milieu 
provided by a well-decorated Spanish classroom or, 
on more formal occasions, in the music room or 
auditorium. 

The roll and minutes should be kept in Spanish. 
Only Spanish should be spoken. After a brief 
business meeting (if necessary), a prepared program, 
made up by a program committee, follows. This 
should usually be given by the student members, 
though an occasional talk by a teacher of the depart- 
ment will make an interesting variation of program. 
Declamations, original articles, informal playlets, 
readings from Spanish magazines, short lectures by 
student members on topics connected with the life 
of Spanish lands (illustrated, possibly, by stereopti- 
con or stereoscope views), and short debates may 
form the major part of the program, and these 
numbers may be interspersed with Spanish songs * 
sung by the members to the accompaniment, if 
possible, of the piano. Or if a phonograph is 
available there are many records of Spanish songs 
that can be played. Sometimes the members will 
be able with the help of the phonograph to learn to 
sing the songs that are found on these records, 
especially if the words are written on the board or 
mimeographed and distributed. Part of the dues 
of the club may be expended for song books and 

1 See Chapter XVII for suggestions as to songs. 



192 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

phonograph records. At times it may be desirable 
and possible to secure a Spanish-speaking person to 
come and address the club on a topic of interest to 
young folks. Such a person should be tactfully 
urged to speak slowly and distinctly. Or it may 
even be possible to find a Spanish singer who will 
contribute to the pleasure of the afternoon. Spanish 
people are most generous of their time and sympathy, 
especially where young people who are learning 
Spanish are concerned. With the help of the 
department of physical training it may be possible 
to have some of the students give Spanish dances. 
Or the music department may occasionally con- 
tribute some Spanish music. 

After the more formal part of the meeting may 
come the playing of games. Most of the North 
American parlor games can be used in Spanish 
versions, as, for example, " Bird, beast, or fish". 
Guessing games, forfeits, piecemeal story telling, 
riddles, the game of proverbs, and so forth may be 
adapted in Spanish. Some of the devices mentioned 
in Chapter XII may be used as club games, as, for 
instance, At the window and others. 

When such a club becomes well established it 
may try more ambitious things, such as the produc- 
tion of a Spanish play annually or semi-annually; 1 
the holding of formal declamation contests in 
Spanish, of translation contests or, in large cities, of 
interschool debates in that language. The exchange 
of visits between Spanish clubs of different schools 
always provides much interest and enthusiasm. 

1 See Chapter XVII for a list of plays available. 



CLUB WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH 193 

In a large school the Spanish club may issue a little 
monthly paper in Spanish. Several schools in New 
York City have Spanish papers conducted by their 
Spanish clubs under the general guidance of a 
teacher. 1 Short articles, quotations, jokes, current 
events, poems clipped from various sources, are 
contributed by the pupils. The expense involved 
may be covered by a charge of a few cents a copy. 
It will also be possible, especially in large cities, to 
secure small paid advertisements from merchants 
and others in the vicinity of the school. These 
advertisements, written, of course, in Spanish, will 
very appreciably lower the cost of publication while 
adding at the same time to the interest of the paper. 

Another line of activity open to a good Spanish 
club is the establishment of an exchange of corre- 
spondence with the pupils of some Spanish country. 
Many of the ambassadors, ministers, and consuls of 
Spanish-speaking lands will be glad to forward to 
some school or schools of their countries a set of 
letters in Spanish written by students in the schools 
of the United States, thus setting in motion a regular 
exchange of letters between pairs of students — the 
Spanish-speaking students writing in English and 
the North American students writing in Spanish. 2 

1 El Eco de las Espanolitas, Julia Richman High School; 
La Vozy Bay Ridge High School; Verde y Blanco, New Utrecht 
High School; El Estudiante Comer rial, High School of Commerce. 

2 For instance, His Excellency, the Argentine Ambassador, 
Sr. Romulo S. Naon, has very kindly offered to forward to 
Argentine schools letters written by students in the schools of 
the United States for the purpose of starting an interchange of 
correspondence. The U. S. Commercial Attache at Lima, 



194 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Each will correct the other's letters and return them. 
These exchanges will be made more regular and more 
interesting if schools in the two countries are paired 
off and if the exchange is effected each time through 
the consul or diplomatic agent. 

But the language club should not be the only 
organized club connected with the Spanish depart- 
ment. There are at least two other clubs that could 
be established with profit, at least in a large school, 
— the Hispanic America club and the Spanish 
stenography club. 

The Hispanic America club, conducted preferably 
in English, should concern itself with the history, 
geography, institutions, customs, industries, and 
products of South and Central America — subjects 
of much interest and practical value. Formal 
organization and parliamentary procedure are desir- 
able. One country at a time should be studied 
intensively under the headings above mentioned. If 
the history of, say, Brazil is the topic, one member 
prepares a short resume of the period of discovery, 
another of the colonial period, and so forth. Ency- 
clopedias, maps, books of travel and history (obtain- 
able in the school library, which should be well 
equipped for such purposes), and magazine articles 
all may be used as sources of information. Stereop- 
ticon lectures will be most helpful, especially when 
given by the teacher or by the older or abler students. 

Peru, Mr. Wm. F. Montavon, will also gladly forward to the 
proper Peruvian school letters from our students. Care should 
be taken to see that all letters sent to such officials bear the 

correct amount of postage. 



CLUB WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH 195 

The Bulletin of the Pan American Union will be 
found unusually suggestive and serviceable in prepar- 
ing for the meetings of this club. The faculty adviser 
may, in larger cities, be able to secure the co- 
operation of business men connected with the South 
American trade, and may obtain the services of a 
few of them for talks on experiences in the southern 
continent or about the practical side of our relations 
with Hispanic America. Samples of the raw prod- 
ucts of the different South American countries 
may be secured through importing houses. Peru- 
vian bark, Paraguayan tea, Brazilian coffee, crude 
rubber, ivory nuts, sisal hemp, and Chilean salt- 
peter are a few of the products of which it is not 
difficult to obtain samples from houses dealing in 
such articles. A set of small flags of the twenty 
republics south of us may be bought or made and 
used to decorate the meeting room of the club. 

The Spanish stenography club. Usually the North 
American exporter or importer has not sufficient 
command of Spanish to be able to dictate in Spanish 
letters to his Spanish-American clients. The Span- 
ish correspondent of the house usually informs his 
principal of the contents of the Spanish letters re- 
ceived and the latter dictates in English his replies 
or indicates briefly the general nature of the answer 
to be made. Thereupon the correspondent either 
translates into Spanish the English of his notes or 
simply frames a Spanish letter expressing the sub- 
stance of his principal's reply. 

Hence it will be seen that only in the very largest 
cities, where exist a good many houses conducted by 



196 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

a Spanish-speaking personnel, will there be a demand 
for stenographers able to take notes in Spanish. 
This work is sometimes done by young Central or 
South Americans, but often, as has been stated by 
Spanish-American firms, these persons render un- 
satisfactory service because of carelessness or lack 
of training or lack of knowledge of North American 
business customs. So, though the demand for 
Spanish stenographers trained in this country is 
limited, nevertheless such a demand does exist. 

However, probably in few schools outside of the 
largest cities will it be found practicable to in- 
stitute regular courses in Spanish stenography. But 
to aid those who may wish to take up this work a 
club may be established. It will, of course, be less 
formal in its organization than, say, the Spanish 
language club. The members should have had at 
least two years of Spanish, and a knowledge of the 
elements of English stenography will be most helpful. 
The greatest difficulty will be to find an instructor 
knowing the subject. The usual source of supply 
will be the faculty of the Spanish department, some 
one of whom may know somewhat of English sten- 
ography. 1 Or a teacher from the department of 
English stenography in the school may be found 
who knows some Spanish. Or two teachers, one 
from each of the two departments, may work to- 
gether in conducting the club. In any case the 
teacher and the student members can work out with 
very good success the principles and problems of 

1 Pitman's Taquigrafia Espanola, and Clave for the same, will 
be found most helpful. 



CLUB WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH 1 97 

stenography in Spanish. Time and faithful practice 
will do the rest. 

In all the kinds of club work mentioned the experi- 
ence and observation of the writer have led him to 
believe that no trace of classroom procedure or atti- 
tude should characterize the teacher's participation. 
Nothing smacking of formal study should be imposed 
by the faculty adviser upon the club members. He 
should be present as a member, older friend, and 
adviser. He should remember that it is a question 
of a club managed by students. Attempts on his 
part to dictate will usually kill interest at once. Here 
is his chance, by the use of tact, sympathy, and good 
fellowship, to make the Spanish language, Spanish 
culture, and knowledge of Spanish nations of the 
greatest benefit to the young folks with whom he is 
associated. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHER OF SUPERIOR 

MERIT i 

As the one in charge of modern language teaching 
in the city high schools, it may not be out of place 
for me to indicate here what may in reason be 
expected of the teacher of languages who at the end 
of his ninth (or twelfth) year of service becomes 

1 An editorial by the author in the Bulletin of High Points in 
the Teaching of Modern Languages in the High Schools of 
New York City, June, 1917. With a few changes it is included 
here at the suggestion of teachers who considered it helpful. 
It is realized that in some parts it is a repetition of ideas ex- 
pressed in foregoing passages of this book. 

In New York City a high school teacher must be approved as 
" fit and meritorious " at the end of the sixth year of the salary 
schedule and as a " teacher of superior merit " at the end of the 
ninth and twelfth years. At the last two points mentioned, 
failure of approval (by (1) the Associate Superintendent in 
charge of high schools, (2) the District Superintendent as- 
signed to high schools, (3) the Principal of the school, and 
(4) the four members of the Board of Examiners) prevents 
progress in the salary schedule beyond #2050 and $2500 per 
annum respectively, the maximum salary for the thirteenth 
year and thereafter being $2650. Approval is given or with- 
held, first, by a committee consisting of (1), (2), and (3) men- 
tioned above, and second, by a committee consisting of (2), (3), 
and (4). 

198 



THE MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHER 199 

automatically a candidate for an award of a declara- 
tion of superior merit in conformity with the present 
law. I know I am touching a delicate subject, but 
it seems to me that whether we question or not the 
merits of the present law or the administration of it, 
we all readily admit that there should be a point or 
points somewhere in a teacher's career where his 
work should be checked up and where he should be 
able and glad to show that after a certain number of 
years of teaching he has grown to the full stature of a 
man in his chosen work, that he is in the van of 
progress in his methods of teaching, in short, that he 
is master of his profession. For such excellence there 
should be a premium, should there not ? There 
usually is in the business or artistic world. Whether 
the touchstone by which he is tested should be 
labeled " superior merit " or " fit and meritorious ' 
or some other equally sententious term, matters not 
greatly. But as matters stand to-day, the first 
mentioned term is the one the law offers us. What, 
then, is the modern language teacher of " superior 
merit " ? Does he not possess at least some of the 
following qualities and abilities ? 

First, should he not be expected, as might any 
good teacher of any subject, to obtain uniformly 
good order, attention, and interest in his classes, 
securing these desiderata by good personality, cor- 
rect methods suited to his subject and to the age 
and progress of his pupils, and by the practice 
of sound pedagogy and good common sense ? 
These are obvious or surface indications, one might 
almost say. Then let us examine into the things 



200 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

that ought to characterize him especially as a teacher 
of a modern foreign language. 

A ready command of the foreign language in 
speech. An effective use of the eclectic method, 
which selects from the direct method tenets the 
best therein, necessitates a control both facile and 
accurate of the spoken language. 

Attention to practical phonetics. Blind imitation 
of the teacher's pronunciation by the pupils is not 
at all sufficient of itself to develop a correct pro- 
nunciation of the foreign tongue. The use of vowel 
charts, particularly in French, the use of a small 
mirror in the hands of the pupil to help him see how 
to place his vocal organs to get certain sounds, the 
use of sketches on the board by the teacher to show 
these positions, much drill of the individual pupil 
and of the class in concert upon difficult sounds 
— some or all of these a successful teacher of a 
foreign language will use. 

Professional reading. He will read intensively 
and extensively in the general methodology of 
modern language magazines and books and in the 
literature of the language which he teaches. Thus 
will he keep abreast of the times as to the best 
methods and devices to be used. Thus will he be 
able to understand and to interpret the best thought 
of the nation whose language he teaches. And to 
you who are beginning work in Spanish I would say, 
you have a great field before you about which it is 
safe to say you have at present but the haziest idea. 
But it is a most enjoyable field in which to read, 
and I adjure you to enter upon it at once. 



THE MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHER 201 

Knowledge of the language he teaches gained by 
much association in the foreign land with those who 
use that language as their native speech. The ideal 
way to reenforce one's reading and grammatical 
knowledge of a foreign tongue is to reside contin- 
uously in the land where that language is spoken. 
The ideal minimum of such residence is one year. 
Most teachers will have to do with less, in so far as 
continuous residence is concerned, and will have to 
content themselves with summer trips to the foreign 
land. But for a satisfactory understanding of the life, 
history, art, political and social customs of the foreign 
nation, without which the teacher is very greatly 
handicapped in effectiveness, only residence abroad or 
several trips abroad will suffice. And to you who are 
taking up the teaching of Spanish may I suggest that 
it is comparatively easy to journey to Cuba, to Porto 
Rico, to Costa Rica, or to Panama ? Though not 
equivalent to a stay in Spain, a stay in these coun- 
tries will give you excellent experience with the Span- 
ish language and with Spanish-speaking peoples. 

Oral practice. The superior teacher will be found 
constantly giving his pupils oral practice in the 
foreign language. Question and answer between 
teacher and pupil and between pupil and pupil, all 
in the foreign tongue, oral summaries of reading, oral 
repetition of memory passages, oral reading of the 
lesson text — these and many other similar devices 
will be used by the teacher to develop speaking 
ability. But he will not carry to an extreme the oral 
work. He will give good heed to the other phases 
of modern language teaching. 



202 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Skillful questioning. Questions will be clearly, 
concisely framed whether in English or in the foreign 
language. They will be stimulating, problem- 
putting, planned to develop the topic in hand or 
to test the student's preparation or understanding. 
They will be psychological as well as logical. They 
will be directed to the class usually and an individual 
selected to reply. And such questioning will result 
in — 

Orderly, intelligent replies, given by an individual 
who will not be interrupted by any other member of 
the class. No confused concert replies will be 
accepted nor piecemeal sentences in response to 
questions. Particularly in using the foreign lan- 
guage in question and answer should replies be 
given in complete sentences. Besides being a good 
training in accuracy such replies make for a greater 
amount of oral use of the foreign language by the 
pupil. 

The relative activity of the teacher to that of the 
class will be such that the class will be more heard 
than the teacher. Participation of pupils will be 
brought about in such a way and to such an extent 
that the pupils will be made to feel and the casual 
observer will probably believe that the pupils are 
doing more than the teacher. 

Drill. If there is one thing that characterizes the 
work of the superior teacher more than anything else 
it is the fact that he is a consummately capable 
drill-master. He realizes that language is first of 
all a habit-forming rather than a fact subject. To 
this end he drills in varied forms on the same matter 



THE MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHER 203 

and drills in various matters in the same form, but 
he will always drill, drill. This drill work will be 
of the right character considering the age of the 
pupils and their stage of progress, plentiful in amount, 
interesting, embracing all the class, lively. 

Induction. He will be successful in teaching 
grammatical material inductively. He knows that 
there are many topics of grammar that lend them- 
selves particularly well to the inductive method — 
for instance, demonstrative adjectives and pro- 
nouns. And yet he realizes that there are times 
when a deductive presentation of new material may 
be the preferable one. But he will know when to 
use either. 

Cooperation. The superior teacher will be noted 
for his readiness to cooperate with his fellow teachers 
in the discussion and solution of their common prob- 
lems in association with other organized bodies that 
aim to improve modern language teaching, in team 
work with his head of department and his colleagues. 
He will also be successful in securing the complete 
cooperation and participation of all members of 
his classes. 

The pupil's root cause of error. He knows how 
to get at the root cause of a pupil's error. He knows 
that a pupil often, when seeking light, expresses 
himself imperfectly, haltingly, and seems unable to 
give any accurate indication of what is troubling his 
soul. But our teacher will see and understand and 
will grasp the pupil's point of view and difficulty, 
and, what is more, will clear up that difficulty in 
short order. 



204 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Appeal to all the senses. This teacher knows the 
value and the necessity of making an appeal to all 
the senses involved in mastering a foreign tongue. 
Appeals to the ear are as necessary as are those to 
the eye; vocal organs must be trained in practical 
phonetics and in oral practice. He will train even 
the muscles of his pupils by having them give instant 
response to commands in the foreign language that 
require immediate response. He will appeal to all 
sides of that complex thing known as a young person's 
mind, and thus the foreign language will become a 
part of the mental life of his students and they will 
have acquired a basis for any future use of the lan- 
guage and a " feeling " for it. 

Resourcefulness. The superior teacher will not 
be limited to a time-worn bag of tricks. His in- 
genuity and alertness will cause him at times to 
blaze new trails — sometimes in ways that had not 
occurred to him before. Especially does this happen 
to him when, under the inspiration of working at a 
" white heat " before a class, he sees in a flash a new 
way to present a topic or a new way to drill upon a 
point he has developed. His ingenuity, however, will 
always go hand in hand with good judgment and 
common sense, but his resourcefulness is based chiefly 
upon — 

Enthusiasm and forcefulness. The fire of his 
enthusiasm is contagious and leaps from his own 
mind and eye to those of his pupils. He spares not 
himself. He drives his class not with a rod but with 
the example of his own vigorous attack upon the 
problem in hand. 



THE MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHER 205 

Personality. Personality is an elusive thing to 
define, isn't it ? And yet our teacher of superior 
merit is usually one of " fine personality". He 
seems to have some sort of God-given quality 
emanating from him that captivates, magnetizes, 
charms, commands and yet offers friendly sym- 
pathy, help, and companionship to young folks. 

The teaching instinct. And all those qualities, 
you may say, are they not summed up by saying 
that this teacher has the teaching instinct ? Yes. 
But this teaching instinct, a gift of nature, inherent, 
should, in the nine years of the teacher's experience, 
have been coupled with a mastery of the technique 
of teaching. Then we have, beyond doubt, the 
teacher who can be declared worthy of " an award 
of superior merit ". 

That any one teacher of languages should have in 
the highest degree each and every one of these 
qualities and qualifications would be most unusual, 
but he should, to be superior, be able at least to 
pass muster in each one of these items, and in the 
majority of them he will excel. 



CHAPTER XV 

HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH IN THE 

UNITED STATES 

The study of Spanish, which has increased so 
remarkably in recent years in our schools, has been 
and still is greatly handicapped in several respects. 
The more obvious handicaps are : (i) A lack of well- 
prepared teachers of the language, or, to put it in 
another way, the presence of many poorly prepared 
instructors, including those specialists in German 
who, for obvious reasons, are now, especially in the 
High Schools, turning their activities to teaching 
Spanish, without having acquired in that language 
a training comparable to the training they originally 
gave themselves in their chosen field. Coincident 
with this lack of well-prepared teachers exists a cer- 
tain inertia on the part of the universities in helping 
to remedy this weakness. (2) Beginning classes 

1 A combination and a modification of two papers presented 
by the author, one on Fallacies that Exist in the Teaching of 
Spanish, read before the Modern Language Convention of 
teachers in the New York City High Schools, November 10, 
191 7, the other on The Use of Literary Texts in the Early Stages 
of the Instruction in Spanish, read before the Romance Lan- 
guage Section of the Modern Language Association of America, 
December 28, 1917. 

206 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 207 

that are far too large. (3) A spirit of dilettanteism 
and dabbling with regard to Spanish studies on the 
part of many students, instructors, and administra- 
tive officers in schools and colleges. (4) Too great 
an acceleration in the early work in the language. 

The more serious, though less obvious, handicaps 
seem to be : (1) The prevalent idea that Spanish is 
easy to acquire. (2) The idea that Spanish should 
be taught only for commercial purposes. (3) The 
use of highly literary texts in the early stages of the 
instruction in the language. 

The removal of these handicaps constitutes the 
chief problem facing us who are specialists in Spanish. 
We wish to see the more obvious impediments 
removed in these ways : 

(1) To increase and improve the supply of teachers 
of Spanish ; First, the colleges and universities must 
offer more courses and work that is more advanced in 
Spanish literature, composition, phonetics, and phi- 
lology, and especially in methods of teaching Spanish. 
At present Spanish is chiefly a side show in most 
universities — a kind of undeveloped appendage of 
the French Department, known also as the Romance 
Language Department. Second, boards of educa- 
tion should grant to their teachers the sabbatical 
year on half pay for study in Spanish lands. With 
the accomplishment of these two reforms we can 
hope for better equipped teachers. 

(2) Classes, beginning and advanced, in both 
High Schools and colleges, should be reduced to a 
working basis of 25 members as a maximum. 

(3) Administrative officers and instructors in High 



208 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

School and college should take with considerably 
more seriousness than is being shown in some insti- 
tutions the eagerness of students to learn Spanish. 

(4) We need to apply the brakes, to attempt to 
cover less ground in beginning classes and to do more 
thoroughly what we do attempt, in both reading and 
grammar. 

The less apparent but more troublesome obstacles 
in the way of the teacher of Spanish need particu- 
larly close attention. 

The first of these less apparent obstacles is that 
peculiarly tantalizing and much distorted belief that 
Spanish is easy. This belief seems to be held by 
the public, by school administrative officers, by 
prospective students of Spanish, and even by some 
teachers of Spanish. 

The public. " Spanish in a week", " Spanish at a 
glance", " Spanish in twenty lessons", and so forth, 
are terms that can be summarized in the representa- 
tive expression, " Spanish at a gulp". These terms 
are used on every hand, chiefly by those private 
language schools that advertise widely in the public 
prints and in public vehicles and also by cheap pub- 
lishing houses that issue cheaper publications. " The 
man in the street", even though he run, may read all 
about the ease of the Spanish language. 

School administrative officers. Apparently in- 
fluenced by the popular notion promulgated in the 
ways above mentioned, principals and teachers of 
some schools have encouraged weak students to 
" have a try " at Spanish. Or teachers in high and 
elementary schools may have toyed once with the 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 209 

language and thus gathered this erroneous impression, 
or they may have concluded that Spanish is easy 
because, after four to six years of the study of Latin 
and two or three years of French, they see in a page 
of printed Spanish many words whose approximate 
meanings they can decipher by comparison with 
their fund of Latin and French words. So, if they 
are graduating-class teachers in the elementary 
schools, they say to Johnny, whose record as a 
student has been lamentable : " Well, Johnny, 
you had better choose Spanish when you enter the 
High School. You know that that is the coming 
language. Besides, it is easy". So Johnny enters 
the High School and takes a whack at the " coming 
language " which overwhelms him coming and going, 
for he usually goes soon from the High School he 
possibly should never have entered. A vocational or 
trade school might have made of him a highly skilled 
artisan and useful member of society. And the 
principals and heads of modern language depart- 
ments in High Schools — those in Podunk or Bing- 
town, perhaps — say, when they see an array of 
pupils wishing to " take Spanish " : " What are we 
going to do for a teacher of Spanish ? Miss Jones, 
you know Spanish, don't you ? ' Miss Jones admits 
having been exposed to the language once in the dim 
past, during a year or half-year course in XYZ 
college or during six weeks of hard labor at modern 
languages in a summer school course. She is, there- 
fore, ready to try her hand at teaching Castilian. 
When a term or two have elapsed she, or both she 
and the principal, wonder why interest seems to 



210 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

have died out in the Spanish course when " Spanish 
is so easy and the pupils ought to progress so rapidly 
in it". Thus is put into practice a most fallacious 
theory ; with what disastrous results it is not difficult 
to imagine. 

One also hears of principals or heads of depart- 
ments who assign to Spanish classes students who 
have wrestled unsuccessfully with Latin or French 
or German, or with two, or even three, of these 
tongues. As a last resort he is given Spanish. 
Another struggle begins for our polyglot student. 
He murders the speech of Cervantes as impartially 
as he did that of Goethe or Cicero, or he imparts 
unhesitatingly to Spanish words that pronunciation 
of certain combinations of letters which he developed 
so marvelously in the French course he pursued but 
never caught. His brain contains a fearsome Babel- 
like mixture of articles, nouns, verbs, and groups of 
syllables. He will never be able to rid himself of this 
farrago and never be able to use correctly any of it. 

If an American boy cannot learn French, he cannot 
acquire Spanish ; if a girl cannot learn Latin, she 
cannot master Spanish. Those teachers of Spanish 
who are in a position to influence in their schools the 
making of programs or the assignment of pupils to 
language work should make every effort to contro- 
vert the idea, wherever it is found, that Spanish is a 
panacea for all linguistic ills. 

The prospective student of Spanish. It doubtless 
" pays to advertise " that Spanish is easy, pays 
particularly the proprietors of so-called " language 
schools" ; but the result is unfortunate for us when, 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 211 

imbued with this notion and urged on, mayhap, by a 
graduating-class teacher, the boy from the elementary 
school presents himself in the Spanish classes of our 
High Schools ready to have fed to him the " coming 
language". Of course, if he was advised to take 
Spanish, not because it is easy but because it is a 
useful language for a young North American to know, 
we welcome him, but we should first make clear to 
him that Spanish is not easy, though it is most useful. 
We must needs show him that there is no royal road 
to a mastery of the language; that to acquire it 
thoroughly necessitates years of effort. 

Teachers of Spanish. None of the older and more 
experienced teachers of Spanish cherish the delusion 
that the language is exceptionally easy. But some of 
the beginners in this field of instruction have, unfor- 
tunately, started with the idea that Spanish, if not a 
particularly easy tongue for themselves to master 
well enough to teach, should at least be easy for the 
high school pupil to acquire. Such teachers are 
" getting off on the wrong foot " in this work when 
they start thus ill-advised. 

Why is Spanish not easy, either to learn or to 
teach ? Why are various classes of people mistaken 
in holding any such belief? 

Take pronunciation first. You hear it said, " any- 
one can pronounce Spanish correctly after two or 
three lessons". Permit us to doubt this. One sees 
too many students struggling, after two years of 
study, with the simple matter of the accentuation 
of such words as verdadero, not to mention verdadera- 
mente ; with hablo not to mention hablo; with ejercicio, 



212 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

not to mention ejercito. And teachers there are 
who mispronounce capitulo, necesita, division and 
estudiais. And when it comes to the nice distinctions 
of inter-vocalic d, final d, and initial d y or of open and 
closed e or o, or the pronunciation of final s> few 
students (shall we say few teachers ?) acquire cor- 
rectness in those matters. And as for sentence 
intonation, how little attention is paid to it ! One 
may pronounce correctly each individual word of a 
Spanish sentence and yet the sentence as a whole 
may be absolutely unintelligible to a Spanish person. 
The swing, the balance, the placing of emphasis, the 
rhythm — in short, the intonation of the Spanish 
sentence is utterly different from that of the English 
sentence. Only very close observation, a quick ear, 
and good imitative powers will enable the English- 
speaking person to speak Spanish so that it " rings 
true . 

Closely related to the art of pronouncing Spanish 
correctly is the art of hearing it correctly. The 
lightness of touch on the consonants, the predomi- 
nance of the vowel sounds, the distinctive way of 
intoning the Spanish sentence, all make Spanish a 
difficult language to catch with the ear. Speaking 
from his own experience, the author may be allowed 
to say that Spanish speech was more puzzling, more 
elusive to his ear, than was French, and it took him 
longer to acquire the ability to hear and understand 
Spanish than it did French. Others there are who 
have had the same experience. 

Take the matter of grammar. The superficial 
phenomena of Spanish grammar may seem easy, but 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 213 

that apparent or superficial ease, like the outward 
show of many things, is deceptive. The more one 
knows about Spanish, the more difficult does one 
realize it to be. The great stumblingblocks in the 
mastery of the language are, in the field of inflection, 

(1) irregularity of verb forms, including especially 
the radical-changing verbs, (2) the object pronouns, 
forms and positions, especially two object pronouns 
in the third person. In the matter of syntax, one 
must mention (1) the extraordinarily frequent use 
of the subjunctive and (2) the freedom and the 
niceties of word order, almost Latin, certainly neo- 
Latin, in nature. Let us discuss just one of these 
points more fully, namely, the use of the subjunctive. 
Let us compare it with the use of the subjunctive in, 
say, French. Besides using the subjunctive in every 
place that French does, Spanish usage requires it in 
the following cases where French would not. 

First, in main clauses. (1) In all polite commands, 
negative or affirmative. French uses the imperative. 

(2) In all negative commands, polite or familiar. 
French employs the imperative. (3) In all horta- 
tory or " let us " expressions. French uses the 
imperative, first person plural. (4) In the conclu- 
sion of a conditional sentence contrary to fact the 
imperfect subjunctive, r-form, is used as much as the 
conditional itself. In these sentences the French 
employs only the conditional in the conclusion. 

Second, in subordinate clauses. (1) After the 
adverbial conjunction when, the time being indefinite 
or future. The French requires the future indica- 
tive. (2) After verbs of supplication or entreaty. 



214 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

French uses the infinitive. (3) After verbs of com- 
mand. French usually employs the infinitive. 
(4) After expressions of causation (era la causa de 
que lo hiciera). The French usually employs the 
indicative. (5) In the if-clause of a conditional 
sentence contrary to fact, where one or the other of 
the imperfect subjunctives is obligatory. 

An important matter to bear in mind in this com- 
parison is that in Spanish the present subjunctive 
always differs from the present indicative as to form. 
In French this is not the case in the first or most 
common conjugation, in which the two moods are 
identical in all the singular and in the third person 
plural of the present tense. Also we must remem- 
ber that there are two imperfect subjunctives in 
Spanish, and a future subjunctive, which last is, 
however, very seldom used. 

One could cite other marked difficulties of Spanish 
grammar, both in inflection and syntax, but probably 
enough points have been mentioned to refute suc- 
cessfully any statement that Spanish grammar is 
easy. 

Take the matter of idioms. An idiom is defined as : 
" An expression peculiar to itself in grammatical 
construction ; an expression the meaning of which 
as a whole cannot be derived from the conjoined 
meanings of its elements." Of such expressions the 
Spanish language sometimes seems to be almost 
entirely composed. Hardly ever does one who has 
had painfully to acquire his Spanish take up a Spanish 
novel without finding in an hour's reading a dozen 
idioms new to him. In a list of fifty idioms chosen 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 215 

at random in the work of a modern writer of Spain 
or Spanish America, twenty of them will be beyond 
the comprehension of one not born and reared in a* 
Spanish land. One despairs of mastering all those 
locutions that are found in highly literary works. 
These idioms are most perplexing; they defy all 
analysis; they are elliptical to a marked degree; 
they have teasing turns and queer quirks in them 
that are Oriental, intricate, even mystical. Into 
some of them is condensed the experience of a whole 
epoch of Spanish history. And many of these 
idioms, especially those containing verbs, are as 
common in the use of Spanish as are trees in a tropical 
forest. Suppose we cite a few of them : tener una 
cosa tres perendengues ; un puro de a tercia ; lo de 
telon adentro; no tener atadero; jdigo si sera 
pajaro de cuenta!; por lo profunda y cosquillosa; 
estar bien por su casa ; meter la baza en la porfia ; 
como la capa del otro ; a buen recaudo ; tomar el 
punto de soslayo ; gente de rompe y rasga ; J . . . ni 
que niiio muerto!; hablar mucho de lo de tejas 
arriba ; sobar los bigotes a contrapelo ; alia se van 
en ideas ; regalar fincas en Valencia ; con el moco 
lacio; pagar a tocateja, and so forth. All these 
locutions are taken at random from Pereda's Pedro 
Sanchez} Of course the meanings of these expres- 
sions are, in some cases, partly decipherable when 
taken in connection with their context. 

Take the matter of vocabulary. For variety of 

1 For a discussion of the difficult characteristics of Castilian 
prose see Professor R. E. Basset's edition of this novel; Explana- 
tions, pp. 239-241. 



2l6 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

terms, for wealth of synonyms, for depth and range, 
for an ever-changing growth and flexibility (except, 
possibly, in the field of scientific terminology), the 
Spanish vocabulary seems to rank second only to 
English. It takes years for a foreigner to encompass 
the literary vocabulary, though, of course, the prac- 
tical, everyday vocabulary is limited as it is in any 
language. 

Take the matter of sentence structure. This 
seems to be more nearly that of the parent Latin 
than is that of any other Romance language. The 
freedom of word order is striking and, to the beginner, 
particularly perplexing. This includes : the subject 
after the verb in declarative sentences ; the frequency 
of the use of the " ablative absolute " ; the frequency 
of present participle clauses; and the common 
occurrence of infinitive phrases introduced by at or 
por and having a noun or pronoun subject, where the 
English requires a clause with a finite verb. 

Take Spanish literature. In Chapter II of this 
book was presented a brief explanation of the value 
of a knowledge of Spanish literature. To fathom the 
wealth and variety of that literature is an immense 
task. For the vast majority of North Americans 
of literary or scholastic proclivities there lie yet before 
them many " new worlds to conquer", new worlds 
of the Spanish drama, ballad, novel, short stories, 
folklore, and philology. He who believes that all 
there is to Spanish may be garnered in two or 
three years of study is " more to be pitied than 
scorned", for he is probably one of those misguided 
or, rather, unguided souls who would exclaim, 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 217 

"Spanish literature! Has Spain a literature?" as 
was once asked by a teacher attending a course in 
elementary Spanish in Extension Teaching in Co- 
lumbia University. 

With the foregoing have been suggested at least 
some of the things that prove fallacious the idea 
that Spanish is easy. Spanish at a gulp leads either 
to starvation or indigestion. So it behooves us to 
give the warning constantly : " Beware of Spanish 
in a week ! Beware of Spanish in twenty lessons ! ' 

The second handicap that is more serious than is 
commonly realized is the prevalent idea that Spanish 
should be taught only for commercial purposes. It 
is inspiring to know that in teaching Spanish to our 
youth we are teaching the language of nineteen inde- 
pendent nations — one constitutional monarchy of 
the Old World and eighteen of our sister republics in 
the New World ; that we are, therefore, teaching a 
language of great practical and commercial value. 
But this idea is overemphasized when it is not taken 
in connection with the probably greater values of 
Spanish described in Chapter II. That educators 
frequently have misplaced the study of Spanish in 
the curriculum may be instanced by the fact that in 
the fall of 1 91 7 in all those evening High Schools of 
New York City in which classes are given in most 
subjects five nights a week, Spanish was offered only 
three times a week, as were bookkeeping, stenography, 
and penmanship, on the theory that as commercial 
subjects are offered but three nights a week, therefore 
Spanish, being a commercial subject^ should have but 
three recitations. However, those students who 



2l8 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

asserted that they expected to take the State exami- 
nations in Spanish were permitted to study the 
language five nights a week in classes formed espe- 
cially for them. An interesting theory and practice, 
indeed, especially when all French and German 
classes in those schools have five sessions a week ! 

In port cities and in manufacturing centers where 
articles are made for export to Spanish lands, Spanish 
will continue to be beyond any shadow of doubt of 
more importance in the conduct of business affairs 
of the Western World than any other modern lan- 
guage except English. Let us recapitulate tersely 
some interesting figures. Our imports from the 
South American continent jumped from 217 millions 
in 1913 to 542 millions in 1917, and our exports to that 
continent in the same time increased from 146 mil- 
lions to 259 millions. Of course the circumstances 
have been peculiarly favorable for this wonderful 
increase of trade. And we cannot hold it easily 
after the war. To hold it, to increase it, we must 
adopt the methods of some of our competitors, 
especially the Germans. Our traveling salesmen 
must be men fluent in Spanish, acquainted with the 
customs, the ways of business, the peculiarities of the 
peoples, their likes and dislikes, etc., for all of which 
the very first requisite is a knowledge of the Spanish 
language. We must train our young men to be 
travelling salesmen of the sort that Germany has 
sent to do business with South American countries. 
We must train our young men and our young women 
in Spanish correspondence and in South American 
economic and political history. 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 219 

But the study of Spanish means more than this. 
In Chapter II it was shown that the study of the 
language has a disciplinary side, if by that is meant 
that it presents plenty of difficulties, to conquer 
which will make brain loops. And the cultural value 
of Spanish is as great as is that offered by any other 
modern language if the people and if the educators 
of the country but once realize what the literature 
of Spain offers. And most important of all, as was 
pointed out in previous discussions, the study of 
Spanish is the very first foundation stone for real 
Pan Americanism and New World international 
amity. One almost insensibly comes to have a 
strong sympathy for the nation whose language one 
studies. A study of Spanish throughout the length 
and breadth of the United States is the surest and the 
most efficacious way to create a sympathetic under- 
standing of Spanish America. This will lead to a 
mutual understanding in all the Americas. With 
this mutual understanding the future of the Americas 
is bright. Without it, it is at best but hazy and 
uncertain. 

After all, Spanish is Spanish, whether studied for 
commercial or any other purposes; but we should 
tirelessly labor to show that Spanish is particularly 
rich in opportunities for the North American student, 
in that it offers more than any other foreign tongue 
commercial, cultural, and international values in 
almost equal proportions. 

Third, the use of literary texts in the first year of 
the study of Spanish has been a greater hindrance 
in the teaching of this language than is generally 



220 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

realized. In no foreign language is it true to such an 
extent as in Spanish that literary writings are pecul- 
iarly and unusually difficult for the English-speaking 
student. We have already discussed the difficulties 
presented by pronunciation, grammar, idioms, vo- 
cabulary, and sentence structure. It remains to 
mention the fact that the differences that exist 
between literary Spanish and the Spanish of everyday 
use are, beyond peradventure, much greater than 
in the case of any other European language. 1 Side 
by side with the foregoing statements of this para- 
graph let us place another statement, namely, that 
Spanish, of all modern foreign languages taught 
to-day in the United States, is usually and rightly 
regarded as possessing the most practical significance 
of them all. Then the inference that must be 
drawn is that our beginning reading should indubita- 
bly be " practical " in nature. And yet the reading 
material for use in the first year or year and a half 
of the study of Spanish has been chiefly literary, 
comprising selections from Valera, Taboada, Pardo 
Bazan, Fernan Caballero, Alarcon, Valdes, Trueba, 
Becquer, Selgas, and others of their type. As an 
example of what this condition has led to, the writer 
may state that he recently found a teacher who was 
energetic but inexperienced (in Spanish) at work in 
one of our budding high school Spanish departments 
trying to put a class of second term children of 

1 See the very interesting discussion of this matter in Spanish 
Texts and the Spanish Language by Dr. John Van Home, of the 
University of Illinois, in The Modern Language Journal for 
January, 1918. 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 221 

fourteen or fifteen years of age through the mazes of 
El Capitdn Veneno and then wondering why they 
seemed stupid at it. She was asked why she did not 
give them Don Quijote in second term instead of such 
a text, and in round-eyed seriousness she said she 
feared that that would be still more difficult. She 
was told that it would not be much more absurd than 
El Capitdn Veneno> and the head of department (he 
was a specialist in — some other language) was asked 
to omit all further attempts to read Spanish in 
second term work until the classes had obtained some 
copies of Fulano and Mengano's First Spanish Reader, 
or to return to the Zutano Elementary Spanish 
Reader, only the first half of which had the classes 
studied in first term work. Since then the writer 
has often asked himself how much of this same kind 
of unwise selection of reading material is being done 
in other cities and towns of the country. 

To read, or rather to attempt to read, these delight- 
ful but difficult writings of the authors mentioned, in 
the first year or year and a half of high school (and 
shall we say also in the first year of college ?), has 
been most discouraging to both pupils and instructor. 
Such efforts have often proved to be mere tours de 
force and have resulted neither in the acquirement 
of a practical vocabulary nor in a proper appreciation 
of these literary masterpieces. Such efforts account, 
in large part, do they not, for the large " mortality " 
in the classes in Spanish which we have often observed 
and tried to explain. One might also add that these 
authors, most of them at least, do not use the lan- 
guage of present-day Spain. Azorin not Alarcon, 



222 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Alas not Valdes, Unamuno not Valera, write the 
language that Spaniards use to-day. 

Our thesis is, then, that reading selections in the 
first year or year and a half of the study of Spanish 
should be selected, not for literary values, but for 
practical, everyday ideas and vocabulary. Literary 
style, even in English, is certainly little understood 
or appreciated by the high school Freshman, or, for 
that matter, by the high school Senior. (Query: 
Is literary style in English appreciated by even 
college Freshmen or Sophomores ?) And the same 
statement is true of the vocabulary of literary selec- 
tions. Why inflict literary style and vocabulary 
of a foreign language upon the young student before 
he has acquired some mastery of the ordinary, every- 
day language ? The practice, rather common in 
college work, of racing through a beginning grammar 
and two or three novels, all in the first year of study, 
has absolutely no place in the high school, nor, for 
that matter, in any college class where is entertained 
the hope of a real mastery of the language. 

The reasons why literary material has been used 
so much in the early, study of Spanish are possibly 
these : (i) Failure to realize that a great gulf exists 
between literary and everyday Spanish ; (2) the 
persistence of the tradition that the first thing to read 
in a foreign language is something written by a great 
writer; and (3), as a result of this failure and of this 
tradition, the fact that until very recently little else 
than literary material of the kind here cited has 
been available in editions made for class use. 

What is meant when we say that our early reading 



HANDICAPS TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH 223 

should be of a more practical nature than it usually 
is ? Just this : It should be " constructed " or 
" adapted ,1 Spanish, simply and correctly written, 
and should deal with some or all of the following 
topics : Descriptions of daily life connected with 
Spain or Spanish-American lands ; discussions of the 
school, the family, the city, the country, customs 
and traditions ; paraphrases of great national ballads, 
plays, novels, or even bits of folk-lore; world-old 
tales already known to the student in their English 
version (these the student will welcome as an old 
friend in a new garb and the sense of familiarity will 
help him to follow the story and anticipate the mean- 
ings of new words) ; informative articles concerning 
the government, history, national heroes, and geog- 
raphy of Spanish-speaking nations. Many begin- 
ning books containing material of this nature are 
available in the study of French and German ; few 
are to be had at present in Spanish. But we are going 
to have them. Those long-headed business men, the 
publishers of modern language books, have seen the 
desirability of supplying this kind of readers. We 
are not without hope. Books of this type are appear- 
ing ; more will follow. The point is, let us use them. 
Let us begin by putting the horse before the cart 
and by reading practical material in the first steps 
of teaching Spanish, the practical foreign language. 
Later let us give our students plenty of Spanish 
literary masterpieces to read. There are great 
expanses of the field of Spanish literature which 
North Americans greatly need to explore. But let 
us give our students this material at the proper time. 



224 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Let us teach, at least in the first year of Spanish in 
college and in the first year and a half of high school, 
the Spanish language of everyday life, of present- 
day Spain and of present-day Spanish America. Let 
us not attempt to teach our students to run before 
they have learned to walk. 

The teaching of Spanish in this country needs 
reorientation at the several points here discussed. 
Time will be necessary to accomplish this. But first 
of all is necessary a clear visualization of the handi- 
caps that exist. Then the intelligent, concerted 
determination of teachers of Spanish in all types of 
educational institutions may be relied upon to bring 
about, in time, the abolition of the handicaps which 
at present hinder country-wide excellence in Spanish 
instruction. 



CHAPTER XVI 

SPANISH AS A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF 

LATIN 

Recently, as is well known, the Latinists have 
been making a determined and aggressive campaign 
in the attempt to obtain for Latin a place in our 
educational scheme still larger than the rather 
ample one already occupied. The Latin scholars, 
in so doing, have come out of their cloistered cells 
and made strenuous and, let us hope, successful 
efforts to relate Latin to practical life. This move- 
ment has been beneficial in many ways, not least 
of all to the teachers and the teaching of Latin. 
When any man is called forth to justify before the 
world his life work, he finds himself so stimulated 
and put upon his mettle that the result cannot 
but be beneficial to himself, at least, if not also to 
his cause. Incidentally, the Latinists have, in this 
process of self-examination and of creation of 
propaganda in favor of their subject, taken several 
pages from the book of modern language teaching. 

Among the more notable claims that are advanced 
for Latin are the following: (i) that it provides 
excellent mental discipline for students; (2) that 
it affords a medium for insight into and under- 
standing of the English language ; (3) that it is a 
language of great usefulness to the physician, the 

225 



226 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

lawyer, the pharmacist, and the scientist of what- 
ever kind ; (4) that Latin literature presents models 
of prose, of poetry, and of drama that are of im- 
perishable worth and that have influenced all modern 
literatures in a very helpful way; and (5) that Latin 
is the best foundation for the study of Romance 
languages, particularly French and Spanish, which 
are now studied so widely. 

The first four claims here cited are, in the opinion 
of the present writer, well founded. He subscribes 
heartily to all four, but halts short at accepting 
the fifth claim, although it has been advanced very 
positively, not only by Latin partisans, but also by 
no inconsiderable number of modern language 
specialists. There is another side to the story, the 
reverse of the shield that, in his judgment, merits 
preference and, at the same time, elucidation. 
This view or thesis is expressed thus : Spanish 
should be studied as a foundation for Latin. And 
in advocacy of this doctrine, pure heresy, of course, 
in the eyes of the Latinists, there is nothing in- 
consonant with a whole-hearted acceptance of the 
first four claims for Latin here mentioned. And 
for this reason : A study of Spanish for one year, 
or, if possible, for two years, before Latin is at- 
tempted will enable the student to encompass in a 
more thorough and lasting manner whatever cul- 
tural, disciplinary, and utilitarian benefits inhere 
in a study of Latin. 1 

1 It is not a new idea on the part of the author to have some 
modern Romance language studied previous to taking up Latin. 
In the Austrian Reform-Realgymnasien it has been the practice 



A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LATIN 227 

Teachers of Spanish would, so far as the lighten- 
ing of their own burdens is concerned, joyfully 
welcome an inalterable regulation that no student 
be allowed to approach the study of Spanish with- 
out a previous successful completion of a year or 
two years of Latin. What a sigh of relief we should 
then give ! Our task would then be astonishingly 
easy and delightful; the road of progress for our 

since 1909^0 carry the study of French for four years before 
undertaking Latin. During the last four years of the course 
both languages are carried. The hour scheme is as follows: 

French 6 5 4 43333=31 
Latin — — — — 77 8 8 = 30 

The Perse School, Cambridge, England, has for years been 
working under a curriculum wherein French is begun three 
years before Latin is attempted. It is of interest to know that 
the Director of that school, Dr. W. H. D. Rouse, is a Latinist, 
and that the curriculum in its present form (putting French in 
at an earlier stage than Latin) is his own plan. He is convinced 
that at the end of five years of French and two years of Latin 
(both having been taught by a modified direct method) the 
pupils know as much Latin as they do French. To quote from 
a statement in a brief curriculum issued by the school: "The 
general result is that the Sixth Form attains the usual scholar- 
ship standard, but at a comparatively small cost of time and 
with unimpaired freshness of interest. Thus, a boy at sixteen 
under this system attains better results in Latin after 540 school 
hours, than he does under the current system after 2160 school 
hours." All the arguments that may be advanced for French 
previous to Latin in Austria and in England hold equally well 
for either French or Spanish in the United States; but there 
are also some very important reasons why Spanish should be 
given, among us, the preference over French, and these reasons 
will be set forth in the course of this chapter. 



228 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

pupils smooth and straight. Into the Latin hopper 
would be fed all beginners of foreign language study. 
The students incapable linguistically would be sifted 
out and be borne off in a side-chute. Those who 
survived the Latin mill would be conveyed into the 
two or three Romance language machines, ready for 
a new stamping and finishing. Fine ! The Latinists 
would do the drudgery. We latter-day Romans 
would do the higher work and rejoice in the superior 
grade of material that would come to us. No more 
despairing hours spent in trying to teach youngsters 
the difference between an adjective and a noun or 
the significance of verb terminations ! 

Of course Spanish is easier for the student who 
has a year or two of Latin. But what is to be said 
about the greater ease of Latin for the student who 
has had a year or two of Spanish ? 

Fortunately for the children, or unfortunately 
for us Hispanists, we cannot dodge duty so easily. 
We cannot shift the burden that way. We are 
compelled to face the issue and to press the counter- 
claim for Spanish as a basis for Latin. And the 
things that compel us to this stand are inherent in 
(i) The times in which we live, (2) The children 
we have to teach, and, (3) The underlying principles 
of pedagogy and psychology. 

The times in which we live. The education of to- 
day is unmistakably tending toward the practical 
plus the cultural. It is hard for us who were brought 
up in the old Latin school to accept the fact that 
no longer does the cultural come first and after- 
wards the practical. Our people are demanding 



A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LATIN 229 

in no uncertain terms that education prepare for 
the living present and the pregnant future. The 
Spencerian theory is gaining the upper hand. Power 
to grapple with social, political, and international 
problems must be developed. Never in the history 
of our nation was this ability so much needed as 
now. We have become a world power. The chil- 
dren of to-day must be the broad-minded citizens 
of to-morrow. They must understand foreign na- 
tions. They must, therefore, know modern lan- 
guages. We are pledged as a nation to upbuild 
ravaged France. We shall have, who knows how 
many, millions of American youths fighting on the 
soil of France the battles of democracy. When 
those whose lives are spared return to their homes, 
they will demand that French be studied by their 
children, for they will know the great need that 
our nation will have for French in order to sustain 
the spiritual and commercial ties already formed 
with that great republic of liberty. And as for 
Spanish, each day that passes sees a tightening of 
the bonds that draw together the United States 
and Spain and the eighteen Spanish-speaking re- 
publics of the New World, some of which are already 
lined up in active support of the United States and 
of France in the wars of Europe. Our statesmen 
and our business men unitedly and emphatically 
urge the obligatory study of Spanish in all our 
High Schools as the first basis for real Pan Amer- 
icanism. Call all this an uncurbed tendency to the 
utilitarian, if you will, but that does not lessen the 
fact that this tendency in language study is vital 



230 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

and unescapable, one that cannot be denied or 
neglected. In order that their real significance 
may be comprehended, however, the foregoing 
statements must be taken in conjunction with a 
consideration of 

The children we have to teach in our High Schools. 
It is common knowledge that relatively few who enter 
High School are, or can be, graduated therefrom and 
that still fewer enter college. Under these circum- 
stances many children and their parents, while not 
unappreciative of the purely cultural and disciplinary, 
ask, often because of economic pressure, that sub- 
jects be taught the children that will put them in 
direct contact with actual life and that will help 
them in solving its problems. For many or most of 
the students in High School, the first great problem 
is how to make a living. In other words, things 
that are practical, and that are at the same time 
disciplinary and cultural, are earnestly sought. 
Spanish, as has been demonstrated in previous 
chapters, offers just that combination of qualities 
as a study, namely, a great utilitarian value plus 
literary and cultural training. The average boy 
remains in High School, let us say, two years. If 
he then leaves to take his place in the world, an 
equipment of two years of successful study of 
Spanish will be of more value than two years of 
Latin. He will have developed as many brain 
loops studying Spanish as he would have developed 
in studying Latin. He will have acquired as good 
a basis for future linguistic study (which would, of 
course, be in modern languages) as if he had studied 



A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LATIN 231 

Latin or Greek, French or German. In addition, 
he will be able to make practical use of his Spanish, 
especially if he is employed in a large exporting or 
manufacturing center. 

The underlying principles of pedagogy indicate 
a study of Spanish as a preliminary to a study of 
Latin. Let us see how some of these principles 
operate when applied to the question at hand. 

First : interest and apperception. Educators are 
unanimous in their belief that the first requisite for 
acquisition, assimilation, and progress in any study 
is that the student have a keen interest therein. 
If the interest does not already exist when the 
subject is first approached, it is the first duty of 
the teacher to create interest, to build up an " apper- 
ceptive mass " in the student's mind so that he will 
instinctively feel that the subject before him is of 
value to him. Thus habitual interest in the subject 
is created. Concentrated attention and mental 
self-activity then easily follow. But it is in the 
matter of interest that Latin is weakest, and here 
the Latinists are able usually to make little appeal 
especially to the younger student, who studies 
Latin because he wants " to go to college and must 
have it for college entrance". This is the usual 
reason, the only interest, he has in choosing Latin 
as his first foreign language. And when this slight 
interest begins to fade, when the pall of declensions, 
conjugations, involved syntax, and word order be- 
gins to weigh heavily upon him, he despairs. He 
sees no one in his daily life, not even his teacher 
of Latin, who pretends to speak the language he 



232 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

is laboring at. His chum, who has begun Span- 
ish on entering High School with him, hears Spanish 
in the streets, in business houses, sees Spanish 
signs in the windows, tries to read Spanish news- 
papers and magazines. Our Latin neophyte begins 
to be a bit uneasy and dubious about the wisdom 
of having chosen Latin. Nor does it encourage 
him to be told by his teacher that he will under- 
stand English better if he perseveres in his Latin 
or that he must know Latin to get into college. 
His chum is going to present Spanish for college 
entrance. English, the boy argues, he studies in 
classes made for that purpose, — English classes. 
And when his chum begins to study Latin a year 
or so later and eventually catches up with him in 
that subject, he feels indeed that he made a mis- 
take. In other words, he has had hard work to 
keep alive his interest, which had so little to feed 
upon in the first place and which had so many 
doubts to contend with. The boy who begins his 
foreign language with Spanish, who has opportunities 
to speak Spanish with his teacher in class and out, 
with people outside the school and in the Spanish 
club of the school, finds his interest growing rather 
than diminishing. He is also building up, uncon- 
sciously, the finest kind of an apperceptive mass for 
the study of Latin when he is ready for a second 
foreign language. 

Second: procedure from the immediate to the 
remote, from environment outward, from the con- 
crete to the abstract, from the modern to the ancient. 
From the very first day in the Spanish class, the 



A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LATIN 233 

pupil begins to use Spanish. He is taught to talk 
and write of objects and activities of the classroom, 
of his home, of his work and his play. It is only 
with much greater difficulty that this can be done 
successfully in Latin. The process is too involved 
and uncertain in that language. Spanish is con- 
crete. Latin must always seem abstract and far- 
fetched to the young beginner. The Spanish-born 
or Spanish-speaking teacher is a living example of 
Spanish speech. Even where direct-method teach- 
ing of Latin is tried, it must needs seem to the pupil 
a tour de force, for he knows, young though he may 
be, that no native user of the Latin language lives 
to-day. He is skeptical, for he knows the attempt 
to speak Latin is artificial, unreal. When history 
or social science is taught, the starting point is not 
the history of Egypt or Greece or Rome. It is the 
history of the city, of the state, or of the United 
States, that is first offered. The organization of 
the school district, of the town, the county, the 
state, the Federal Government, and then of foreign 
governments, is the sequence followed in the teach- 
ing of civics. One does not learn to read Chaucer 
before making a study of modern English. The 
study of the philology of a language is not begun 
before the modern forms of that language are known. 
It seems, then, but the soundest common sense 
and the very basis of pedagogy to build up a student's 
foreign language sense till it may reach to Latin. 
Taking the more remote, the more abstract, and the 
ancient first seems surely like beginning at the 
wrong end of the scale. 



234 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Third : procedure from the less difficult to the 
more difficult. This is a sound principle of educa- 
tion. Who could deny it successfully ? And yet 
the very acceptance of this principle demands irre- 
futably the teaching of Spanish (or French or Italian 
or Portuguese) as a preliminary to Latin. This is 
true from the standpoints of pronunciation, of 
inflection, and of syntax. 

Take pronunciation first. The syllabic stress of 
Spanish words is an easy matter, much more so 
than in Latin. The first glance at a word in Span- 
ish determines the stress. Any exception to two 
simple rules is indicated by a written accent mark 
showing the position of the stress. The quantity 
of syllables in Latin is a puzzling matter to beginners 
and even to advanced students, as those know who 
have taught Latin poetry. But a Spanish word 
derived from Latin (from which language most 
Spanish words take their origin) usually conserves 
the same stress it had in the original Latin. (In 
nouns the stress is, of course, that found in the 
Latin accusative singular.) Hence a student who 
knows Spanish will nearly always stress properly 
the Latin word. Let us take a few words as ex- 
amples of this fact. Aman, amant ; facil, facilis ; 
dificil, difficilis ; animo, animum ; imagen, ima- 
ginem ; poetico, poeticus ; verdad, veritatem ; pro- 
posito, propositum ; tragedia, tragoedia ; cuadru- 
pedo, quadrupedum ; diligencia, diligentia ; ejercito, 
exercitum ; dormir, dormire, and so with nearly all 
infinitives. 

Every letter is pronounced in Spanish (except 



A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LATIN 235 

h) ; therefore the Spanish student finds it easy to 
observe this same principle in Latin. 

The. Spanish open and close e and have their 
approximate counterparts in Latin. 

Take inflection. Declension of Latin nouns has, 
of course, no parallel in Spanish. But the inflection 
in Spanish of the adjective and noun for agreement 
in gender and number provides an excellent introduc- 
tion to the same topic in Latin, where there is but 
one more, the more difficult, element to add, that 
is, inflection for case. Here is a good place to note 
also that Spanish, more than French, conforms to 
the Latin in distinction of verb endings for each 
of the six persons of a given tense. The Spanish 
tenses are simpler than the Latin in formation and 
in uses. The present, imperfect, and preterite in 
Spanish correspond closely in forms to the present, 
imperfect, and perfect in Latin. The future and 
conditional in Spanish are, of course, not derived 
from the classical Latin and are more simply formed 
in all conjugations than the Latin future and 
imperfect subjunctive, the nearest equivalent in 
meaning to the Spanish conditional. The present 
subjunctive of regular and many irregular verbs is 
very close to the Latin present subjunctive in forms ; 
compare ame, amet ; pida, petat ; de, det ; venga, 
veniat, etc. The Spanish imperfect subjunctive, 
r-form, is derived from the Latin pluperfect indica- 
tive : amara, amaverat. The Spanish imperfect sub- 
junctive, j-form, is derived directly from the Latin 
pluperfect subjunctive : amase, amavisset ; diese, 
dedisset. The point is, that these similarities of the 



236 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Spanish to the Latin, while the Spanish is always the 
simpler form, constitute a fine introduction to the 
mastery of the more highly inflected Latin forms. 

Take syntax. The ablative absolute is probably 
more perfectly preserved in Spanish than in any 
other Romance language. Compare, patre inter- 
ectOy muerto el padre; consumpto frumento, agotado 
el alimento, etc. This construction is exceedingly 
common in Spanish and, as in Latin, it is used to 
define the attendant circumstances, to replace tem- 
poral, conditional, causal, and other clauses. The 
Spanish gerund is a real gerund similar to that in 
Latin, though the Latin present participle is not 
continued in Spanish except in the form of a noun 
or an adjective, as amante (" a lover " and " affec- 
tionate ") from amans, amantem. 

Spanish, like Latin, has conditional sentences 
expressing simple condition, future condition, and 
condition contrary to fact, and, as in Latin, the 
future conditions are " more vivid ' and " less 
vivid", the latter requiring the imperfect subjunc- 
tive, either form, and the conclusion requiring the 
r-form of the imperfect subjunctive or the condi- 
tional. The same arrangement of tenses is used in 
conditional sentences contrary to fact in present 
time, while past time requires either the first or 
second imperfect subjunctive in the ^-clause and 
the pluperfect subjunctive (r-form) or the condi- 
tional perfect in the conclusion. The condition is 
often disguised in various ways (present participle, 
de or a with the infinitive, etc.) or omitted entirely, 
thus keeping a close parallel to the Latin. 



A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LATIN 237 

Spanish adheres pretty closely to the Latin in the 
use of the subjunctive in subordinate clauses, es- 
pecially in those expressing time, concession, pro- 
viso, purpose, and relative characteristic, provided 
the time or fact in question is uncertain or indefinite. 
A few examples will suffice : priusquam telum abici 
posset, antes de que se pudiera lanzar un arma; 
licet omnia pericula impendeant, aunque todos los 
peligros amenacen; tantum ut sciant, con tal que 
sepan ; ne sit impune, para que no sea impune (sin 
castigo) ; quis est qui id non maximis efferat laudibus ? 
I quien hay que no lo alabe sobremanera ? 

The laws of the sequence of tenses prevalent in 
Latin usage have come down in Spanish in almost 
unchanged force, a thing that is more noticeable in 
Spanish than in other Romance languages. 

One must also mention the rather remarkable 
preservation of the Latin pluperfect indicative with 
full pluperfect indicative force in subordinate clauses 
in modern literary Spanish : e.g. No tuvo Magallanes 
motivo para arrepentirse de la buena action que 
ejecutara (Ramsey, Spanish Grammar, p. 401) ; El 
pendon de Castilla ondeo luego en una de las 
torres [de la Alhambra] donde tantos siglos tre- 
molara el estandarte del Profeta (Lafuente, His- 
toria de Espana) ; Espiraba en este dia el hom- 
bre funesto, sin amigos, divorciado del partido 
en cuyas aras lo sacrificara todo, . . . abominado 
de la teocracia a quien sirviera (Castelar, Fernando 
Septimo). 

As a part of syntax one may briefly consider word 
order. The freedom in the placement of the subject 



238 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

in the Latin sentence is reflected in Spanish more 
than in other Romance languages. It is very fre- 
quent indeed to find the subject subsequent to the 
verb. Examples may be found in any half page of 
Spanish prose. 

An examination of the above detailed instances of 
similarities between Latin and Spanish in the matters 
of pronunciation, inflection, and syntax reveals two 
things : first, that similarities are very marked be- 
cause Spanish has preserved in modified form a 
great many of the characteristics of the mother 
tongue, and second, that the phenomena observed 
are less complicated in Spanish than in Latin. 
Thus a study of Spanish as a preliminary to Latin 
means proceeding from the less difficult to the 
more difficult and in a field which is Latin from 
the first steps in Spanish to the closing page of 
Vergil or Horace. It is a well-known fact that the 
Spaniard finds Latin soon within his grasp and that 
he acquires a reading ability in that language 
that the English-speaking person rarely, if ever, 
attains. 

Even though they insist upon the existence of a 
greater disciplinary value in Latin, those who are 
still devotees to the great god Discipline must 
admit nevertheless that the greater discipline 
should be entered upon through the lesser disci- 
pline, — if they so interpret that training provided 
in a study of Spanish. The author is not, how- 
ever, of the belief that there is any greater disci- 
plinary value inherent in the one study than in the 
other. And in this connection the words of so distin- 



A FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LATIN 239 

guished a scholar as Dr. Charles W. Eliot must be 
given great weight. He has said : 1 

It is often asserted that the study of Latin gives a boy or 
girl a mental discipline not otherwise to be obtained, a discipline 
peculiarly useful to those who have no taste or gift for the study. 
As a matter of fact, it has doubtless often happened that pupils 
in secondary schools got through Latin the best training they 
actually received; because their teachers of Latin were the 
best equipped and the most scholarly. The classical schools 
have been the best schools, and the classical teachers the best 
teachers. Gradually, within the past forty years, teachers of 
modern languages, English, the sciences, and history have 
been trained in the colleges and universities, who are as 
scholarly and skillful in their respective fields as any classical 
teachers. They can teach boys and girls to observe, to think, 
and to remember in the new subjects quite as well as the 
teachers of Greek and Latin can in those traditional subjects. 
At least, they think they can ; and many parents and educa- 
tional administrators think that the new subjects and teachers 
ought to have a free opportunity to prove this contention. 
That is all the proposal to abolish the requirement of Latin for 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts really means. 

The times in which we live, the children we have 
in our classes in High School, and the principles of 
pedagogy and psychology that we all accept point 
clearly to the advisability of making Spanish a 
foundation for Latin rather than Latin a foundation 
for Spanish. 

1 In Latin and the A. B. Degree; published, 1917, by the General 
Education Board, 61 Broadway, New York City. 



CHAPTER XVII 

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS FOR THE TEACHER 

OF SPANISH 

In the preparation of the following lists of helps 
for the teacher of Spanish, the author has drawn 
freely upon the paragraphs referring to Spanish 
in two Bulletins of the University of Illinois. They 
are: (i) Bulletin No. 33, April 16, 1917, " On High 
School Libraries, Based on Recommendations made 
to the High School Conference; issued from the 
office of the High School Visitor", Professor H. A. 
Hollister of the University of Illinois ; (2) Bulletin 
No. 43, June 25, 1917, which is Bulletin No. 18 of the 
School of Education of that University, entitled 
" Suggestions and References for Modern Language 
Teachers, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, 
edited by Thomas Edward Oliver, Ph. D., Professor of 
Romance Languages". Of these two bulletins the 
latter is probably the most complete, practical, and 
carefully considered compilation of up-to-date books 
and other aids for modern language teachers that is 
available at the present time, and the only one that 
gives equal attention to Spanish, French, and German. 

Matter printed in italics in the following lists 
has been added by the author of this book. The 

240 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 1\1 

rest is quoted from the sections devoted to Spanish 
of the bulletins above described. 



Minimum High School Library for Teachers of 
\ Spanish * 

The New Velazquez Spanish and English Dictionary. 

Appleton. $6.00. 
Diccionario de la Lengua Castellana, Real Academia 

Espanola de la Lengua. Stechert. $8.50. 
Hume, M. A. S. The Spanish People. Appleton. 1901. 

$1.50. 
Burke, U. R. History of Spain to the Death of Ferdinand 

the Catholic. 2 vols. Longmans, Green & Co. 1900. 

£5.00. 
Hume. » Spain ; Its Greatness and Decay. Cambridge 

History Series. Putnam. $1.50. 
Hume. Modern Spain. Story of the Nations. Putnam. 

1 900. $1.50. 
Altamira y Crevea, Rafael. Historia de Espana y de la 

Civilizacion Espanola. 4 vols. Gil . $5.00. 
Ticknor, George. History of Spanish Literature. 3 vols. 

Houghton Mifflin Co. $10.00. 
Blanco Garcia, Francisco. Literatura Espanola en el 

SlGLO XIX. 3 vols. Murillo. $3.00. 
Wygram, E. T. A. Northern Spain. A. & C. Black. The 

Macmillan Co. $6.00. 
Calvert, A. F. Southern Spain. A. & C. Black. The Mac- 
millan Co. $6.00. 

Bensusan, S. L. Home Life in Spain. The Macmillan Co. 

igio. $1.75. 
Ellis, Havelock. The Soul of Spain. Houghton Mifflin Co. 

1915. $2.00. 

1 Bulletin 33, above described. Pages 94 and 95. Prepared 
by Dr. John D. Fitz-Gerald, Professor of Spanish, University 
of Illinois. 



242 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Minimum High School Library for the Pupils of 

Spanish * 

Cuyas. Spanish-English and English-Spanish Dictionary. 

Appleton. #2.50. 
Pequeno Larousse Ilustrado. Larousse. #2.00. 
Fitzmaurice-Kelly. Spanish Literature. Appleton. 1898. 

$1.50. 
Clarke, H. B. Spanish Literature. Macmillan. $1.60. 
Bates, Katharine Lee. Spanish Highways and Byways. 

Macmillan. 1907. $2.00. 
Fitz-Gerald, J. D. Rambles in Spain. Crowell. 1910. 

#3.00. 
Rodriguez Marin. Cantos Populares Espanoles. £2.00. 
Bates, Katharine Lee. In Sunny Spain. Dutton. 1913. 

#1.00. 
Set of 100 Stereoscopic Views of Spain. Underwood & 

Underwood. $18.30. Stereoscope, $1.30. 
Don Quixote. Illustrated by Van Dyke. Motteux's transla- 
tion. 4 vols, de luxe. Clarkson, David B., 624-30 S. 

Wabash Avenue, Chicago. $3.95. Catalogue. 

{It will be seen that both the teachers' and the pupils 9 lists may be 
purchased for approximately $97.00.) 



Opportunities for Travel and Study 2 

1. Holiday Course for Foreigners in Madrid. The 1917 
course was the sixth year and was from July 17 to August 26. 
The fee was fifty pesetas. There are also " Courses of Three 
Months in the Spanish Language and Literature for For- 
eigners ". 

1 Idem. 

2 From this point on the lists given are from the second bulletin 
above mentioned, that is, Suggestions and References for Modern 
Language Teachers, passim. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 243 

The academic year consists of three terms of three months 
each. The registration fee is forty pesetas a month. For 
information regarding both the regular courses and the holiday 
course write to the Sr. Secretario de la Junta para Ampliacion 
de Estudios, Moreto, 1, Madrid, or to Professor John D. Fitz- 
Gerald, University of Illinois, or to Professor Federico de Onis, 
Columbia University. 

Excursions to other parts of Spain are organized in connection 
with these courses. 

2. " The International Institute for Girls in Spain", Calle 
Fortuny, 21, Madrid, Spain, has a " Department for American 
Students." Address the Directora, Miss Susan D. Huntington. 
This department is designed for young women who are able, 
preferably, to spend at least a year in Spain. The charge for 
" Home and Tuition, including Spanish, French, German, 
history of art and literature of Spain " is #500, and per month 
$75. For day pupils these charges are respectively $200 and $30. 

Descriptive circulars and further information may be ob- 
tained of Prof. J. D. Fitz-Gerald, University of Illinois, who is 
a member of the advisory council. 

3. In Spanish- American lands there will be increasing oppor- 
tunity for travel and study when the Panama trade routes are 
adjusted. On the table-lands of Mexico the summer climate 
is preferable to that in Spain or other Central American coun- 
tries. It is to be hoped that peace may soon come to Mexico, 
so as to permit the resumption of travel and sojourn there. 
The best places are reputed to be Mexico City, Oaxaca, and 
Guadalajara, all of which are over 5000 feet above the sea. 

In Havana, if c^re be taken to secure a room facing the sea 
breeze, the climate is said to be as good as in Madrid. 

In the United States certain localities of Arizona, notably 
Nogales, and of Texas, notably El Paso, are not unendurable 
in the summer for a northerner. 

The Illinois Central Railroad offers certain special induce- 
ments for travelers to Cuba. 

4. Under the leadership of Ralph E. Towle, the Bureau of 
University Travel (Trinity Place, Boston, Mass.) planned a 



244 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

trip sailing from New York January 20, 191 5, via Jamaica and 
Panama to Peru, Chile, across the Andes through Argentina 
to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santos, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, 
and points in the West Indies on the return journey. The trip 
ended in New York in the first week in April, and the total 
cost was about #1275. This is evidence of similar trips that 
will undoubtedly be organized later. 

5. Well recommended is the Springfield, Massachusetts, 
Summer School of French and Spanish, which held its second 
session in 191 7. The main emphasis is given to pronunciation 
and diction. The announcement declares that " the courses 
will be similar to those formerly given, but not now available, 
in the vacation schools of Paris and other European cities." 
Address Charles F. Warner, Secretary, Room 16, Board of 
Trade Rooms, Springfield, Mass. 

To these may be added the Romance Language Schools held at 
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Ft., during the summer vaca- 
tion. The separate School of Spanish, with native instructors, is 
under the able direction of Senor Moreno- Lacalle of the United 
States Naval Academy. 

Books of Travel 

Spain 

— Castilian Days, by John Hay. Boston (Houghton MifHin 

Co.). 1907. 

— Spanish Highways and Byways, by Katharine Lee Bates. 

Illustrated. New York (Macmillan). 1900. $1.50. 

— The Bible in Spain, by George Borrow. New York (Put- 

nam's). 1907. 

— The Zincali ; or an Account of the Gypsies in Spain, by 

George Borrow. 2 vols. London (J. Murray). 1902. 

— Rambles in Spain, by John D. Fitz-Gerald. Numerous 

illustrations. #3. New York (T. Y. Crowell). 1910. 

— Old Court Life in Spain, by Frances M. Elliot. 2 vols. 56 

illustrations. #5. New York (Putnam's). 

— The Soul of Spain, by Havelock Ellis. Boston (Houghton 

MifHin Co.). 1908. $2. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 245 

Spanish Life in Town and Country, by L. Higgin. New 
York (Putnam's). 

A Tramp in Spain from Andalusia to Andorra, by Bart 
Kennedy. New York (Fred Warne). 1904. #2.50. 

Spain and the Spaniards, by Edmondo de Amicis. New 
York (Putnam's). $2. The same in a two- volume edi- 
tion, translated by S. R. Yarnell. Philadelphia (Winston). 

The Cities of Spain, by E. Hutton. London (Methuen). $2. 
Quiet Days in Spain, by Carl Bogue Luffmann. New 

York (E. P. Dutton). 1910. $2. 
Familiar Spanish Travels, by William Dean Howells. 

New York (Harpers). 191 3. $2. 
Cathedral Cities of Spain, by W. W. Collins. Illustrated. 

New York (Dodd, Mead & Co.). 1909. $3.50. 
Visiones de Espana : Apuntes DE UN Viajero Argentino, 

by Manuel Ugarte. Valencia (F. Sempere). 1903. 1 

peseta. 
Other interesting books on Spain have been written by A. M. 

Huntington, Theophile Gautier, Leonard Williams, and 

C. W. Wood. 

The Handbook for Travellers in Spain, by Richard Ford. 

London (John Murray). 8th edition, 1892. 
Four Months Afoot in Spain, by Harry A. Franck. New 

York (Century Co.). 1913. $2. 
The Spaniard at Home, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet. 

Chicago (A. C. McClurg & Co.). 1910. $1.75. 
At the Court of His Catholic Majesty, by William 

Miller Collier, late American minister to Spain. Chicago 

(A. C. McClurg y Co.). 1912. $2. 
The Cathedrals of Southern and Eastern Spain, by C. 

Gasquoine Hartley. New York (J. Pott Es? Co.). 

■ Home Life in Spain, by S. L. Bensusan. The Macmillan Co. 

1910. $1.75. 
• The Magic of Spain, by Aubrey F. G. Bell. John Lane Co. 
1912. About $1.50. 

■ Impressions of Spain, by James Russell Lowell. Houghton 

Mifflin Co. 1899. 



246 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

— Spanish Vistas, by G. P. Lathrop. Harpers. 1883. 

— On the Trail of Don Quijote, by A. F. Jaccaci. Scribner's 

Sons. 1896. 

— Heroic Spain, by E. Boyle O'Reilly. Duffield. 1911. $2.50. 



Hispanic America 

One of the recent marked features in the development of our 
modern language departments is the extraordinary increase in 
the demand for Spanish and also for knowledge of those southern 
countries of the American continent where this language or 
Portuguese is spoken. Several publishing houses, notably 
Macmillan and Benj. H. Sanborn, are preparing extensive series 
of books dealing with the history, the language, and the literature 
of our neighbors to the south. It is therefore increasingly essen- 
tial for the teacher of Spanish to become acquainted with the 
history and the culture of Hispanic America. The following 
books are accordingly listed with this purpose in mind : 

— Across South America, by Hiram Bingham. New York 

(Houghton Mifflin Co.). 191 1. $3.50. 

— South America : a Geography Reader, by Isaiah Bowman. 

New York (Rand, McNally & Co.). 1915. 75 cts. 

— Elementary Spanish-American Reader, by Eduardo Berge- 

Soler and Joel Hatheway. The Hispanic Series. Benj. H. 
Sanborn & Co. 191 7. #1.24. Contains much material of 
political and cultural interest. 

— Through South American Southland, by M. A. Zahm. 

New York (Appleton). 1916. $2.50. 

— Mexico, the Wonderland of the South, by W. E. Carson. 

Macmillan. 1914. #2.50. 

— Mexico ; Handbook for Travellers, by Thomas Philip 

Terry. With 2 maps and 25 plans. Boston (Houghton 
Mifflin Co.). 1909. $2.50. 

— The Panama Gateway, by J. B. Bishop. Fully illustrated. 

New York (Scribner's). $2.50. 

— Latin America : its Rise and Progress, by Francisco 

Garcia Calderon, with a preface by Raymond Poincare. 
New York (Scribner's). 1913. $3. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 247 

The South American Tour, by Annie S. Peck. Fully illus- 
trated, mainly from photographs by the author. New 
York (George H. Doran). #2.50. 

A Search for the Apex of America, by Annie S. Peck. 
New York (Dodd, Mead & Co.). £3.50. 

La America del Sud, por James Bryce, traducido al castellano 
por Guillermo Rivera. New York (Macmillan). 1914. 
£2.50. This book has been successfully used by some 
teachers as an auxiliary reading text. When ordered thus 
for classes the price is $2. The English original costs $2.50 
also. 

Peru, by Reginald Enock. London (Fisher Unwin). 

Baedeker of the Argentine Republic, etc., by Alberto B. 
Martinez. (D. Appleton & Co.). 1915. $3. (Also Bar- 
celona. 191 4.) 

Brazil in 1913, by J. C. Oakenfull. 604 pages. Printed by 
Butler & Tanner of Frome, England. 1914. 7 sh. 6 p. 
The Brazilian Government distributed some 11,500 copies 
of this thorough description of Brazil's history and resources. 
In the United States the distribution took place through the 
Pan American Union of Washington, D. C. Appendix III 
of this book is a very complete bibliography of Brazil. 

■ Charles Scribner's Sons have made quite a specialty of books 

descriptive of Latin-American countries. The list is too 
long for quotation here, and may be found in the catalogue 
of that firm. 

• A book of value in this connection is A Brief Bibliography 
of Books in English, Spanish and Portuguese Relat- 
ing to the Republics Commonly Called Latin Ameri- 
can, with Comments, by Peter H. Goldsmith. New York 
(The Macmillan Co.). 1915. xix, 107. The critical 
comments will help in the choice of reading matter. 

- Somewhat less extensive is the book South America : Study 
Suggestions. Brief Outline with Bibliography, by 
H. E. Bard. D. C. Heath. 1916. 

■ The Pan American Union, Washington, D. C, issues a 

monthly bulletin splendidly illustrated and devoted to the 
progress and development of the twenty-one republics of 
the two Americas. The bulletin is published in a French 



248 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

edition for 75 cts. yearly ; in a Spanish edition for #1.50 ; 
in a Portuguese edition for $1, and in an English edition 
for $2. There are also bi-lingual editions as follows : 
French and Spanish for $2 ; French and Portuguese for 
#1.75 ; French and English for $2.50. An edition in four 
languages — English, French, Portuguese and Spanish — 
is also issued for #4. 

This magazine aims to create friendly relations throughout 
the two continents, and deserves wide circulation. No better 
means of acquiring knowledge of our sister republics could be 
found. 

— Among other periodicals treating of Pan American affairs 

are : Pan American Progress, Los Angeles, California 
(304 Wilcox Bldg.), and Latin America (in English and 
Spanish), New Orleans (502 Board of Trade Bldg.). Semi- 
monthly. 

— Zone Policeman 88, by Harry A. Franck. {Century 

Company). 

— Vagabonding down the Andes, by Harry A. Franck. {Cen- 

tury Company) 1917. $4. 

— A Diplomat's Wife in Mexico, by E. C. O'Shaughnessy. 

(Scribner's) 1916. $2.50. 

— The Pan American Union, by John Barrett. {Pan American 

Union, Washington, D. C.) 191 1. 50 cents. 

— The Two AMERICAS, by Rafael Reyes. Translated from the 

Spanish by Leopold Grahame. New York {Frederick A. 
Stokes Co.) 1914. $2.50. 

See list of 2$ books on Latin America prepared by the Pan 
American Union. It is called in a sub-title " suitable for use as 
supplementary reading and reference books in high schools, normal 
schools and colleges ". 

— How Latin America Affects our Daily Life, by W. /. 

Dangaix. Institute for Public Service, 5/ Chambers St., 
New York. December, 1917. 25 cts.; special prices for 
class use. Very practical and helpful information about the 
products and economic conditions of Hispanic America. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 249 

General Series that Touch upon Spain 

— A remarkably beautiful series of books (with profuse illus- 

trations colored from paintings made on the spot) is pub- 
lished by A. & C. Black of London. These volumes are 
in three series and were originally sold at from #1.50 to 
#5, according to size. They may now be obtained for half 
price of McDevitt-Wilson, Hudson-Terminal Building, 
New York City. Those on Spain are entitled Northern 
Spain and Southern Spain. 

— The National Geographic Magazine, published by the 

National Geographical Society, Hubbard Memorial Hall, 
Washington, D. C, often contains beautifully illustrated 
articles on European countries. Membership and sub- 
scription $2 a year. Vol. XXVIII was 1916-1917. 

— A book of value is John Scherer's Europe Illustrated. Its 

Picturesque Scenes and Places of Note. London (no 
date). 2 vols. 

— The Baedeker Guide Books contain a vast amount of valu- 

able information, especially in their introductory pages. 

— The Mediaeval Town Series, by various authors. Lon- 

don (J. M. Dent). New York (E. P. Dutton). 1898-1912. 

These dainty volumes are copiously illustrated, and contain 
valuable descriptive and historical matter. The following 
volumes are of interest to students of Spanish : Seville, Toledo. 
The prices are from 3 s. 6 d. in cloth to 5 s. 6 d. in leather. 

— Not without value are such popular collections as the John 

L. Stoddard lectures on travel. 

— The Land und Leute. Monographien zur Erdkunde, 

published at Bielefeld and Leipzig, Germany, by Velhagen 
and Klasing, should also be listed here. They are well 
illustrated, cover every European country, and sell at $1.20 
each. 

Political Histories 
Spain 

— Altamira y Crevea, Rafael, Historia de Espana y de la Ci- 

VILIZACi6n Espanola. Barcelona. 1909. 4 vols. 24 pesetas. 



250 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

— Clarke, Henry Butler, Modern Spain. 1815-1898. Cam- 

bridge (England) University Press. 1906. $2. 

— Hume, Martin A. S., The Spanish People. Appleton. 

$1.50. 

— Hume's edition of Burke's History of Spain. 2 volumes. 

In sequence to Hume's edition of Burke's History of Spain, 
Hume has written several other volumes treating of special 
periods. These are Philip II of Spain ; Queens of Old Spain ; 
The Court of Philip IV; Spain, Its Greatness and Decay 
1479-1788; and Modern Spain. 

— Latimer, Elizabeth W., Spain in the Nineteenth Century. 

(McClurg). 1898. $2.50. 

— Salcedo Ruiz, Angel, Historia DE Espana. Resumen 

CRfrico, e Historia GrAfica de la Civilizacion Es- 
PANOLA, por Manuel Angel y Alvarez. Copiously illus- 
trated. Madrid (Calleja) 191 6. #3. 

— Lane-Poole, Stanley, The Moors in Spain. New York (G. 

P. Putnam's Sons), ign. $1.50. 

— Watts, Henry Edward, The Christian Recovery of Spain. 

New York (G. P. Putnam's Sons). 1901. $1.50. 

Hispanic America 

— Mitre, Bartolome, The Emancipation of South America, 

being a condensed translation by William Pilling of the 
History of San Martin by General Don Bartolome Mitre. 
London (Chapman & Hall). 1893. 

— Akers, Charles E., A History of South America. 1854- 

1904. New York (E. P. Dutton). 1904. $4. 

— Shepherd, William R., Latin America. New York (Holt). 

1 91 4. (Home University Library.) 50 cts. (Presents the 
historian's point of view.) 

— Supple, Edward Watson, Spanish Reader of South Amer- 

ican History. New York (Macmillan). 1917. 

— Garcia Calderon, Francisco. Latin America ; Its Rise 

and Progress, with a preface by Raymond Poincare. 
New York (Scribner's). 1913. #3. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 2$ I 

Dawson, Thomas C, The South American Republics. 2 
vols. New York (Putnam's Sons). (The Story of the 
Nations series.) 1903. $2.95 for both vols. 
■Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of Mexico. New York 
(The Bancroft Co.). 1914. $2. 

Lummis, Charles F., The Spanish Pioneers. Chicago (A. C. 
McClurg). 191 4. An ardent defense of the conquistadores. 

Garcia Calderon, F., Les Democraties Latines de l'Ame- 
rique. Preface de M. Raymond Poincare. Paris (Ernest 
Flammarion). 191 2. Frs. 3.50. 

Spanish Phonetics 

Josselyn, F. M., Etudes de Phonetique Espagnole. Paris 
(H. Welter). 1907. With diagrams based upon actual 
experiments. 

Araujo, F., Fonetica Kastelana. Santiago de Chile. 1894. 

Araujo, F., Estudios de Fonetica Castellana. Toledo. 
1894. 

Colton, Molton Avery, La Phonetique Castillane. Sold by 
Geo. W. Jones, 194 Main Street, Annapolis, Md. Paris. 
1909. $1.20, postpaid. 

Bassett, Ralph E.> Spanish Pronunciation. Abingdon Press. 

See also articles by Tomds Navarro Tomds which will appear from 
time to time in HISPANIA. 

Histories of Literature 

Fitzmaurice- Kelly, James, Spanish Literature. New York 
(D. Appleton & Co.). $1.50. 

The same author has written a similar history in French 
(Paris, A. Colin, 1913), five francs, with a bibliography 
in separate volume for which the price is two francs. Also 
a like work in Spanish (Madrid 1913, second edition, 1916), 
eight pesetas, the bibliography forming part of the volume. 
Both these works differ from the English work, the whole 
subject having been reworked, rewritten, and brought down 
to date. 



2$2 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

— Clarke, H. Butler, Spanish Literature. Macmillan. 1893. 

— Ticknor, George, History OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Three 

volumes. Houghton Mifflin Co. 

— Salcedo Ruiz, Angel, La Literatura Espanola. Resumen 

DE Historia Critic A. Profusely illustrated. In process 
of publication. Vol. Ill, El Clasicismo, appeared 1916. 
Vol. IV is being prepared. Madrid (Calleja). 

— Blanco Garcia, Francisco, Literatura Espanola EN EL 

SlGLO XIX. 3 vols. Madrid (Murillo). $3. 

— Fitzmaurice-Kelly, James, Lecciones de Literatura Es- 

panola. A translation into Spanish by Diego Mendoza 
of lectures delivered by the author in 1907 in several universities 
of the United States. Preface by Rufino Jose Cuervo. Madrid 
(Victoriano Suarez). Ptas 6. 

— Cejador y Frauca, Julio, Historia de la Lengua y Litera- 

tura Castellana. 7 vols. Madrid (Revista de Archivos, 
Bibliotecas y Museos). 191 5-17. (Vol. VII: Comprendi- 
dos los autores hispano-americanos. Epoca Romdntica, 
1830-1849.) 

Hispanic America 

— Coester, Alfred, The Literary History of Spanish America. 

#2.50. Macmillan. 1916. 

Description of Spanish Art 

— Dieulafoy, Marcel, Art in Spain and P ortugal. Illustrated, 

New York. (Charles Scribners Sons). 1913. $1*50. See 
also introduction to Baedeker s Spain. 

— Angel de Apraiz ; La Casa y La Vida en la Antigua 

Salamanca. Salamanca (Calatrava). 191 7. 

— Arthur Byne and Mildred Stapley ; Rejeria OF THE SPANISH 

Renaissance; a collection of photographs and measured 
drawings, with descriptive text. The Hispanic Society of 
America. 1914. $5 : 

— Arthur Byne and Mildred Stapley; Spanish Ironwork; 

with 158 illustrations. The Hispanic Society of America. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 253 

Edwin Atlee Barber; HlSPANO-M ORES QUE POTTERY IN THE 
Collection of The Hispanic Society of America. 
Published by that Society, igi 5. $1. 

Edwin Atlee Barber; Spanish Porcelains and Terra Cottas 
in the Collection of The Hispanic Society of America. 
Published by that Society. 191 5. 2$ cts. 

Edwin Atlee Barber; Spanish Maiolica, with a catalogue 
of the collections of The Hispanic Society of America. Pub- 
lished by that Society. 50 cts. 

Rafael Domenech; SOROLLA, SU VlDA Y SU Arte. 116 illus- 
trations. Madrid (Leoncio Miguel). 

S. L. Bensusan; Velazquez. Illustrated with eight repro- 
ductions in color. Also, Murillo by the same author. 
"Masterpieces in Colour" Series. Frederick A. Stokes Co. 

Handbooks of Spanish Art. A series of^ ten 16 books, 
paper covers. The Hispanic Society of America. 50 cts. each. 

Eight Essays on Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida. By eight 
art critics. 2 vols. Illustrated. The Hispanic Society of 
America. $7.50. 

Five Essays on the Art of Ignacio Zuloaga. By five 
art critics. The Hispanic Society of America. 50 cts. 
The Hispanic Society also publishes a Sorolla CATALOGUE 
and a Zuloaga Catalogue, 50 cts. each. 

Journals for the Teacher of Spanish 

Hispania, a new quarterly pedagogical journal, began 
publication February, 191 8. The Organization Number 
appeared in November, iqi?. The $2 subscription includes 
membership in the recently-formed American Association 
of Teachers of Spanish. Address the Secretary-Treas- 
urer, Dr. Alfred Coester, 1081 Park Place, Brooklyn, 
N. Y. 

Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos. First Series 
(eight volumes) 1 871-1878 ; Second Series (one volume) 
1883 ; Third Series 1897 to date. Published in Madrid. 

Revue Hispanique. Since 1894. $4. Published in Paris 
and New York. 1905 to 1913 inclusive, two volumes annu- 
ally ; since 191 4 three volumes annually. #4. 



254 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

— Revista de Filologia Espanola. A quarterly. Since 1914. 

Occasionally contains articles on Spanish phonetics. Ma- 
drid. 17 ptas. Its bibliographies are especially valuable. 
They may be had separately for 4 ptas a year. 

— La Lectura. A monthly. Since 1901. Madrid. Very 

helpful to the teacher. 

— Bulletin Hispanique. Since 1899. $2.40 a year. Pub- 

lished in Bordeaux. 

— BoLETfN de la Real Academia Espanola. Since 1914. 

Madrid, 12 pesetas. 

— Revista de FiLosoFf a. Cultura — Ciencias — Educa- 

CION. Since 1915. Buenos Aires. #5. 

Dictionaries 

— Arturo Cuyas' edition of Appleton's smaller New Spanish 

Dictionary. #2.50 in one volume. D. Appleton & Co. 
1904. 

— Angeli-McLaughlin, New Spanish-English, English- 

Spanish Dictionary. #1.50. W. R. Jenkins, New York, 
Sixth Ave. at 48th St. 

— Salva, Vicente, Nuevo Diccionario de la Lengua 

Castellana por la Academia Espanola. One vol., 
nth edition, 1894. Paris (Gamier Freres). 

— Velazquez de la Cadena, Mariano, A New Pronouncing 

Dictionary of the Spanish and English Languages. 
Revised and enlarged by Gray and Iribas. Two volumes, 
purchasable separately. New York (D. Appleton & Co.). 
1902. 

— Calleja, S., Nuevo Diccionario Manual, Ilustrado, de 

la Lengua Castellana. Madrid (Calle de Valencia, 
28). Edicion economica, 1600 pp.; edicion corriente, 1900 
pp. (about #2.75) ; edicion lujo, 2000 pp. 1914. An 
excellent work. 

— Pequeno Larousse Ilustrado. Paris (Larousse). 9 francs 

in cloth ; 12 francs in flexible leather. 

— D. Jose Alemany y Bolufer, Diccionario DE LA Lengua 

Espanola. Barcelona (Ramon Sopena). 1917. 10 pesetas. 
Very complete. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 255 

DlCCIONARIO DE LA LENGUA CASTELLANA, REAL ACADEMIA 
DE LA LENGUA. Stechert. $8.50. 

DlCCIONARIO DE LA LENGUA CASTELLANA, CON LA CORRESPON- 
DENCE Catalan A, by D elf in Donadiu y Puignau. Bar- 
celona (Espasa y Cia). 

Encyclopedias 

Diccionario Salvat Enciclopedico Popular Ilustrado. 

The title page reads: Comprende ademds de todos los vocablos 
que se kalian en la ultima edicion del DlCCIONARIO DE LA 
Real ACADEMIA Espanola, las voces tecnicas de Ciencias, 
Artes y Oficios ; las mas corrientes en los paises de America 
y las extranjeras adoptadas por el uso ; f rases, modismos 
y refranes mas conocidos ; articulos y notas geogrdficas, 
historic as, de ciencias fisicas y naturales ; literatura, bellas 
artes, deportes, etc., etc. Nine volumes have appeared and 
one supplementary volume, called Apendice I, which lists 
not a single word found in the dictionary of the Academy. 
Unbound and delivered in signatures, it costs about $3. 50 
per vol., but can be had in substantial boards for fifty or seventy- 
five cents more. Barcelona {Salvat y Cia, S. en C., editor es). 

Elias Zerolo, DlCCIONARIO ENCICLOPEDICO DE LA LENGUA 
CASTELLANA. Paris (Gamier Hermanos). 2 vols. $13. 

Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada. Vols. 1-20 inch and 
29-34 i nc l' have appeared. Barcelona. (Jose E spas a e 
Hijos, Editor es). 

Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano-Amerjcano de 
Literatura, Ciencias y Artes. 2$ vols. Barcelona, 
(Montaner y Simon, editor es). 

Grammars 

Ramsey, M. M., A Text Book of Modern Spanish. 
Henry Holt & Co. 1894. (An admirable reference 
grammar.) 

Isaza, Emiliano, DlCCIONARIO DE LA CONJUGACION CAS- 
TELLANA. 2d edition. Paris. 1900. 

Salva, Don Vicente, Gramatica de la Lengua Castellana 



256 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

segun AHORA SE habla. 1 2th edition. Paris (Gamier 
Freres). 1897. 

— Bello, D. Andres, and Cuervo, R. J., Gramatica de la 

Lengua Castellana Destinada al Uso de los Ameri- 
canos. Paris (Roger and Chernoviz). 1902. 

— Gramatica de la Lengua Castellana por la Real 

Academia Espaiiola. Nueva edicion, Madrid, 1900. 

— Cuervo, Rufino Jose, Apuntaciones Criticas sobre el 

Lenguaje Bogotano con Frecuente Referencia al de 
los Paises de Hispano-America. Quinta Edicion. Paris 
(Roger y Chernoviz). 1907. 

— Menendez Pidal, Ramon, MANUAL ELEMENTAL DE GRAMA- 

TICA Espanola. Tercera Edicion. Madrid (Suarez). 
1914. 

— Becker, Sarah Cary, and Mora, Federico, Spanish Idioms 

with their English Equivalents, Embracing nearly 
Ten Thousand Phrases. Boston (Ginn & Co.). 1887. 
gi.8o. 

Miscellaneous 

— Benot, Eduardo, Diccionario de Ideas Afines, etc. 

Similar to Roget's Thesaurus of English Words. 
Madrid (Mariano Nunez Samper). 

— Caballero, Ramon, Diccionario DE Modismos (Frases Y 

Metaforas). Madrid (Antonino Romero). 

— Benot, Eduardo, Prosodia Castellana i Versificacion. 

3 vols. Madrid (Juan Munoz Sanchez). 

— Hanssler, William, A Handy Bibliographical Guide to 

the Study of the Spanish Language and Literature. 
63 pages. St. Louis, Mo. (C. Witter). 1915. 



Course of Study in Spanish for High Schools 

— A four years' course in French and Spanish for secondary schools. 

{Revised.) Berkeley y University of California Press. April, 
1916. 

— Report of the Committee of Five on a Course of Study in Spanish. 

Presented December 27, 1917 in the meeting of the Modern 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 257 

Language Association of America. Professor J. D. M. Ford y 
chairman. 

— Report of the Committee on a Standard Course of First Year 

College Spanish. Presented December 28, 19 1 7 before the 
Central Division of the Modern Language Association of 
America. Professor J. D. Fitz-Gerald, chairman. 

Newspapers and Periodicals for Classroom Use, or for 

Outside Reading 

. Note : For periodicals published abroad address The Inter- 
national News Co., 83 Doane St., New York City ; G. E. 
Stechert & Co., 155 W. 25th St., New York City ; Lemcke 
and Buechner, 30-32 W. 27th St., New York City ; or W. R. 
Jenkins, Sixth Avenue at 48th St., New York City, of whom 
either single copies or full subscriptions may be obtained. 

— Alrededor del Mundo, an illustrated weekly. #3 a year. 

Madrid. 

— El Nuevo Mundo, an illustrated weekly. $3 a year. 

Madrid. 

— Blanco y Negro, an illustrated weekly. About $$ a year. 

Madrid. 

— Mercurio, an illustrated monthly. $1.50 a year. New 

Orleans, La. (Association of Commerce Building). 

— Latin America, English and Spanish. Semi-monthly. 

502 Board of Trade Bldg., New Orleans, La. 

— Las Novedades, an illustrated weekly. #5 per year; 

$1.30 for three months. 225 West 39th St., New York 
City. Considered by many the best Spanish newspaper 
published in the United States. It has been used success- 
fully in Spanish classes, in which cases special subscription 
prices obtain. 

— Las Americas, illustrated monthly. Official organ of the 

Pan American States Association. Hotel McAlpin, New 
York City. $3 yearly. 

— Reference may well be made again to the Spanish editions 

of the bulletins published by the Pan American Union, 
Washington, D. C. 



258 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

— La Prensa. Eight-page weekly. New York, 24 Stone St. 

5 cts. $2.$o per year. Special price for use in schools. 

— El Heraldo. Four-page weekly. New York, 432 East 71st 

St. 2 cts. $1 per year. Special price for use in schools. 
— ■ El Grafico. An illustrated monthly. New York, 1400 Broad- 
way. 25 cts. $2.50 per year. 

— Caras y Caretas. An illustrated weekly. Buenos Aires. About 

$7. Is considered the best weekly of Argentina. 

— Revista Universal. An illustrated monthly. New York, 832 

Park Row Bldg. $1.50 per year. Special rates to teachers 
and students. 

— La Revista del Mundo. $i per year. Quarterly ; the Spanish 

edition of the " World's Work", but does not contain the same 
articles as the English magazine. Doubleday, Page £f? Com- 
pany, Garden City, L. I. 

— Inter America. $1.50 per year. Monthly. New York {Double- 

day, Page y Company). Half of its issues are English 
translations of the leading articles in Spanish- American 
magazines and half are Spanish translations of the best 
articles that appear in the various magazines of North America. 
The English and Spanish issues alternate. 

— The Pictorial Review. Spanish edition. An illustrated 

monthly. New York, 214 West 39th St. 2$ cts. $2.50 per 
year. 

— La Esfera. An illustrated weekly. Madrid. $6. 

— Hojas Selectas. An illustrated monthly. Barcelona. 

— Zig-Zag. An illustrated weekly. Santiago de Chile. 

— El Mundo Grafico. An illustrated weekly. Madrid. 

— Tee Philippine Review. An illustrated monthly. Manila, 

P. I. $4. Printed in English and Spanish. 

— Puerto Rico Ilustrado. An illustrated weekly. San Juan 

{Real Hermanos). $5. 

— El Figaro. An illustrated weekly. Havana, Cuba. 

— Cuba Contemporanea. An illustrated weekly. Havana. 

$5- . 

— Pegaso. An illustrated weekly. Mexico, D. F. (Calle Cinco 

de Mayo). $8. 

— Espana. A weekly. Madrid (Calle del Prado). Ptas 12. 

A good review of political and literary matters. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 259 

La Ilustracion Espanola e Hispano-Americana. An 
illustrated weekly. Madrid {Sagasta 17). Ptas 50. Very 
conservative. 

Nuestro TlEMPO. Madrid {Marques de RiscaT). Ptas 30. 
A very solid review ', muck favored by the well educated people of 
Spain. 

I B eric A. Weekly. Tortosa, Spain. Ptas 30. The lead- 
ing scientific journal of Spain. 

The South American and El Norteamericano, both pub- 
lished by the same company, at 165 Broadway, New York. 
$1.50 each. The first is published in English and gives 
articles descriptive of Latin America. The second is printed 
in Spanish and contains informational articles about English- 
speaking America. Both are well illustrated. 

Illustrated Albums, Richly Illustrated Books, Etc. 

Huntington, A. M., A Note-Book of Northern Spain. 
New York (Putnam's). 1898. #3.50. Delightfully written 
and beautifully illustrated, with a remarkable chapter on a 
Spanish bull-fight. * 

Wood, C. W., The Romance of Spain. London (Mac- , 

millan). 1900. $3.50. 

Wood, C. W., The Glories of Spain. London (Macmillan). 
1901. £3.50. 

Williams, Leonard, The Land of the Dons. London 
(Cassell). 1903. #4. 

Williams, Leonard, Toledo and Madrid. London (Cassell). 
1903. 12 sh. 6 d. 

The following books by A. F. Calvert, known as the Spanish 
Series, are extremely useful. Each volume consists of 
about half text and the remainder of excellent half-tones, 
numbering several hundred. The price per volume, ex- 
cept the last, is #1.25. The list follows : ALHAMBRA of 
Granada ; Cordova ; El Greco ; Goya ; Leon, Burgos 
and Salamanca ; Madrid ; Murillo ; Royal Palaces 
in Spain ; The Escorial ; The Prado ; Toledo ; Ve- 
lasquez ; Valladolid, Oviedo, Segovia, Zamora, Avila, 
and Saragossa. The Moorish Remains in Spain is $15. 



260 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

The publishers are the John Lane Co. of New York and 
London. 

— Sanpere y Miguel, Salvador, Historia DEL Lujo. Two 

volumes. Barcelona, 1886. Vol. I treats of all civilized 
countries ; Vol. II of Europe, especially Spain. 

Pictures, Photographs, and Post Cards 
Spain 

— Hauser y Menet, Ballesta 30, Madrid. Send for catalogue. 

— Ralph P. Stineman, 801 Timken Building, San Diego, Cat., 

has some excellent photographic plates of buildings and 
bridges of Spain and can print these off in any size desired 
for framing. 

Argentina 

— Marcelino Bordoi, Venezuela 1554, Buenos Aires. 

Posters 

— Julian Palacios, Calle del Arenal 27, Madrid. Can supply 

posters of fairs and bull fights. 

Pictures for Conversational Drill 

— The Pictorial Spanish Course by R. Torres, published by 

Little, Brown & Co. of Boston, Mass. (65 cents), has 
proved its worth because of its use of pictures for conver- 
sational drill. 

Songs 

There is a great lack of available collections of Spanish songs 
suited to clubs of American students. With the growing de- 
mand for Spanish, some one should fill this need soon. The only 
titles that are available are : 

— Modern Spanish Lyrics, by E. C. Hills and S. J. Morley. 

$1.25. Henry Holt. 1913. This has the music often songs. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 261 

— Elementary Spanish Reader, by A. M. Espinosa. 90 cts. 

Benj. H. Sanborn. 19 16. With music of four folk songs. 

— Rodriguez Marin, Cantos Populares Espanoles. £2.00. 

— Canciones Populares. Books I and II. Silver, Burden y 

Company. About 40 cts. each. 

— First Spanish Reader, by Roessler y Remy. 68 cents. 

American Book Company. 1916. This has the words and 
music of five songs. 

— E SPAN A PlNTORESCA, by Carolina Marcial Dorado. Ginn y 

Co. 191 7 '^Contains the words and music of nine Spanish songs. 

Books for Children 

— CUENTOS DE Calleja, en color es. Two series; one, 5 pesetas 

each; the other 2 pesetas. Beautifully illustrated. Madrid 
(Casa Editorial Calleja). 

Games 

— A resourceful teacher can readily adapt English or American 

games to the atmosphere of the language desired. An 
excellent book full of valuable suggestions is Jessie Hubbell 
Bancroft's Games for the Playground, Home, School 
and Gymnasium. Illustrated, New York (Macmillan). 
$1.50. 

— Of smaller compass is Mari Ruef Hofer's Popular Folk 

Games and Dances, for Playground, Vacation and 
Schoolroom Use. 56 pages. Chicago (A. Flanagan). 

— Divided proverbs. (English proverbs and their equivalents 

in German, French and Spanish.) 50 cts. William R. 
Jenkins Co., Sixth Ave. at 48th St., New York City. 

— See Hints on Spanish Club Work and Games in Easy Spanish 

Plays, by Ruth Henry. Allyn y Bacon. 1917. 

A crying need for our Spanish clubs is a variety of card games. 

It is hoped that some publishing house may before long issue a 
few Spanish card games, such as Spanish authors and history and 
geography games. 



262 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

School Theatricals 

The list of available Spanish plays is not long, as yet, but 
there will doubtless soon be an increased publication of such 
material, to meet the growing demand. The following have 
been given with success : 

— DespuSs de la Lluvia el Sol. i act. R. D. Cortina Co. 

(12 East 46 St., New York). 1914. 

— Tres Comedias Modernas. 1 act each. Edited by F. W. 

Morrison. Henry Holt & Co. 1909. These are : La 
Muela del Juicio by M. R. Carrion ; Las Solteronas 
by Luis Cocat y Heliodoro Criado ; Los Pantalones by 
Mariano Barranco. 

— Zaragueta by Miguel Ramos Carrion y Vital Aza. 2 acts. 

Edited by G. C. Howland. Silver, Burdett & Co. 1901. 

— Other plays that have been given at the University of Kansas 

are : El Sueno Dorado by Carrion and Aza ; El Senor 
Cura by Vital Aza. 
The W. R. Jenkins Company (Sixth Avenue at 48th St., New 
York) published under the title Teatro Espanol the 
following : 

— La Independence, by Don Manuel Breton de los Herreros. 

4 acts. A bright, lively comedy. 

— El Desden con el Desden, by Don Agustin Moreto y 

Cabana. 3 acts. Charming but difficult. 

— Un Drama Nuevo, by Don Joaquin Estebanez. 3 acts. A 

powerful tragedy requiring marked histrionic talent. 

— Sabado sin Sol, by Alvarez Quintero, in Espinosa's Ele- 

mentary Spanish Reader. Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. 
This is a playlet. The same firm announces Dos Comedias 
Contemporaneas, to be edited by Caroline B. Bourland. 

— Dona Clarines, comedia en dos ados, by Serafin y Joaquin 

Alvarez Quintero, edited by S. G. M or ley. D. C. Heath & 
Co. 1915. SO cts. In the same volume is the delightful 
paso de comedia Man AN A DE Sol by the same authors and 
prepared by the same editor. 

— Easy Spanish Plays, by Ruth Henry. Eight short plays pre- 

pared especially for presentation by students of Spanish. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER AIDS 263 

Well adapted for high school Spanish clubs, Allyn y Bacon, 
1917. About 60 cts. 

El Trovador, by Gutierrez, edited by H. H. Vaughan. D. C. 
Heath y Co. 1908. This play, the original of Verdi 9 s 
famous opera, II Trovatore, was presented in the spring of 
1917 by the Spanish club of the Westport High School of 
Kansas City, Mo. 

Espana Pintoresca, by Carolina Marcial Dorado. Ginn £sf 
Co. 1 91 7. Contains a comedy suitable for presentation in 
school: (( Castillos de Torresnobles" , written by Miss Marcial. 



Phonograph Records 

The Columbia Graphophone Company, Woolworth Building, 
New York City, publishes a very large catalogue of the records 
of Spanish music which are sold by it. 

The Victor Talking Machine Company, Camden, N. J., pub' 
lishes three catalogues of Spanish music, one containing 
records of the music of Spain, another listing Cuban selec- 
tions, and the third giving Mexican selections. 

The Cortinaphone language records and the records and method 
sold by the Language Phone school are of aid to the inexperienced 
teacher of Spanish and can also be used as an aid or accessory 
to class work. Send for catalogues to the New York City offices 
of these companies. The Cortina Academy of Languages is 
at 12 East 4.6th Street, and The Language Phone Method may 
be addressed at 2 West 4.5th Street. The International Corre- 
spondence Schools of Scranton, Pa., also have for sale a good 
set of records and method for instruction in Spanish by means 
of the phonograph. 

Maps 

D. Appleton y Company publish maps of South and Central 
America with names given in Spanish, and supply a catalogue 
of these maps. 

The Phillips Wall Atlas sold by C. S. Hammond y Co., New 
York City, is an excellent set of 8 maps showing political^ 



264 SPANISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

physical, climatic, and other features of South America. Price 

$14- 

— It is suggested that students draw their own maps of Spain and 

Spanish- American countries, writing in the names of places, 
rivers and mountains, etc., in Spanish. 
— ■ Many of the latest readers are provided with good maps of these 
countries, and these may be used as the basis for a geography 
lesson conducted in Spanish. 



Bibliography on the Junior High School 

— The Fifteenth Yearbook of the National Society for 
the Study of Education. Part III, The Junior High 
School, by Aubrey Augustus Douglass, Bloomington, III. 
(The Public School Publishing Co.). 1916. 75 cts. An 
authoritative and detailed discussion of the Junior High School 
as established in various cities. Contains abundant bibliog- 
raphy on all phases of the question. Pages 6q, 70, and 71 
contain a discussion of the place of foreign languages in this 
type of school. 



ADDENDUM 

On February 15, 191 8, the registration in the 
various languages was as follows : 



Terms 


i 


ii 


iii 


iv 


V 


vi 
851 


vii 


? viii 


Total 


French 


6539 


3981 


2458 


2332 


956 


I02 


124 


17,343 


German 


IO97 


2389 


2935 


2705 


1616 


1636 


28S 


293 


12,956 


Italian 




23 


— 


26 


— 


7 


— 




tf 


Latin 


3706 


3270 


2851 


2365 


1823 


1655 


382 


424 


16,478 


Spanish 


10,309 


5875 


2958 


IS67 


S33 


376 


77 


76 


21,771 



The total enrollment of pupils in the High Schools 
on February 28, 191 8, was 68,028. 



265 



